demoralize

/dɪˈmɔrəˌlaɪz/

Other forms: demoralized; demoralizing; demoralizes

If something demoralizes you, it makes you feel bad or hopeless. When your soccer team was trounced by the last-place team in the league, the loss seemed to demoralize everyone, from players to coaches to fans.

Demoralize can also mean what it looks like, "to remove the morals of." For example, parents worry that R-rated movies will demoralize their children. In other words, they fear kids will lose their sense of what's right and wrong if they see glamorous actors indulging in bad behavior.

Definitions of demoralize

1. verb

   lower someone's spirits; make downhearted
   “The bad state of her child's health demoralizes her”

   synonyms: cast down, deject, demoralise, depress, dismay, dispirit, get down

   types:

   chill

   depress or discourage

   type of:

   discourage

   deprive of courage or hope; take away hope from; cause to feel discouraged
2. verb

   corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality
   synonyms: corrupt, debase, debauch, demoralise, deprave, misdirect, pervert, profane, subvert, vitiate

   types:

   carnalise, carnalize, sensualise, sensualize

   debase through carnal gratification

   infect

   corrupt with ideas or an ideology

   lead astray, lead off

   teach immoral behavior to

   poison

   spoil as if by poison

   bastardise, bastardize

   change something so that its value declines; for example, art forms

   suborn

   incite to commit a crime or an evil deed

   type of:

   alter, change, modify

   cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
3. verb

   confuse or put into disorder
   “the boss's behavior demoralized everyone in the office”

   synonyms: demoralise

   type of:

   bedevil, befuddle, confound, confuse, discombobulate, fox, fuddle, throw

   be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly