bastardise
Definition
- Verb (Transitive):
- To declare (a child) to be illegitimate: To officially or legally state that a child was born to parents who were not married to each other at the time.
- To debase or corrupt something, reducing its quality or value: To change something in a way that makes it inferior, less pure, or less effective than its original form. This often refers to art, language, or traditions.
Usage Examples
- Verb:
- The cruel king sought to bastardise his rival's heir to remove him from the line of succession.
- Critics argued that the film adaptation completely bastardised the original novel, stripping it of its depth and meaning.
- Many linguists worry that internet slang is bastardising the formal language.
Advanced Usage
- "to bastardise a concept": To corrupt or misuse a philosophical or theoretical idea.
- The politician was accused of bastardising the concept of freedom to justify harmful policies.
- Passive Voice: Often used in the passive voice to describe the state of something that has been corrupted.
- The traditional recipe has been bastardised beyond recognition in this fast-food version.
Variants and Related Words
- Bastardization (Noun): The act or result of bastardising something.
- The bastardization of the sacred text caused great controversy.
- Bastard (Noun, archaic/legal): A person born to parents not lawfully married to each other. (Note: This term is now considered offensive when referring to a person).
Synonyms
- Corrupt: To cause to act dishonestly or to change from good to bad.
- Debase: To reduce the quality, value, or character of something.
- Dilute: To make something weaker or less effective.
- Pervert: To alter something from its original course, meaning, or state to a distortion.
Antonyms
- Purify: To make something pure or free from contamination.
- Elevate: To raise to a higher level or improve the quality of.
- Ennoble: To lend greater dignity or honor to.
Related Phrases
- "To water down": To make something weaker or less effective by adding other elements. This is a less formal synonym for the second meaning of .
- The studio watered down the script's controversial themes, effectively bastardising the writer's vision.
Verb
-
declare a child to be illegitimate
-
change something so that its value declines; for example, art forms
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