vulgarizing
Stripping of refinement
Vulgarizing is making something coarse, crude, or common—stripping away refinement or sophistication.
You can vulgarize a classic novel by dumbing it down, or vulgarize a tradition by commercializing it: Hollywood has a talent for vulgarizing everything it touches.
The word often implies resentment at seeing something elevated brought low.
Reducing in value
- degradingLowering in worth
- corruptingCausing moral decay
- defilingCorrupting purity or sanctity
- profaningViolating sacred things
tainting · sullying · tarnishing · debasing · adulterating · contaminating · besmirching · demeaning
Vulgar or obscene speech
- obscenityIndecent word or act
- lewdnessCrude sexual indecency
- crudenessLack of sophistication
- raunchinessCrude sexual vulgarity
bawdiness · ribaldry · smuttiness · scurrility · indecorum · earthiness · foulness · grossness
Reducing intellectual content
- oversimplifyingRemoving necessary complexity
- dilutingLessening strength by mixing
- reducingMaking less or smaller
- condensingReducing in volume
distilling · abridging · streamlining · flattening · homogenizing · sanitizing · bowdlerizing · expurgating
Including in standard settings
- democratizingMaking accessible to all
- disseminatingSpreading information broadly
- spreadingExtending over space
- broadcastingMass signal transmission
normalizing · publicizing · propagating · circulating · proliferating · commercializing · commodifying · merchandising
cheapening
Reducing in value
- degradingLowering in worth
- corruptingCausing moral decay
- defilingCorrupting purity or sanctity
profaning · tainting · sullying · tarnishing · debasing · adulterating · contaminating · besmirching · demeaning · lowering
profanity
Vulgar or obscene speech
raunchiness · bawdiness · ribaldry · smuttiness · scurrility · indecorum · earthiness · foulness · grossness · indelicacy
dumbing-down
Reducing intellectual content
- oversimplifyingRemoving necessary complexity
- dilutingLessening strength by mixing
- reducingMaking less or smaller
condensing · distilling · abridging · streamlining · flattening · homogenizing · sanitizing · bowdlerizing · expurgating · sensationalizing
mainstreaming
Including in standard settings
- democratizingMaking accessible to all
- disseminatingSpreading information broadly
- spreadingExtending over space
broadcasting · normalizing · publicizing · propagating · circulating · proliferating · commercializing · commodifying · merchandising · promoting
- spreading ideasspreading, teaching, sharing, promoting, broadcasting
vulgarizingrefining
Removing unwanted elements
elevating · ennobling · sophisticating · dignifying · polishing
vulgarizingintellectualizing
Analyzing rather than feeling
rarifying · obscuring · complicating · exalting · abstracting
vulgarizingsanctifying
Making sacred or holy
purifying · hallowing · consecrating · spiritualizing · glorifying
vulgar, divulge, vulgarity, vulgarism, vulgarian, vulgarize, vulgarisms, vulgarized, vulgarians