downgrade
noun
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Definition of downgrade
(Entry 1 of 2)
downgrade
verbDefinition of downgrade (Entry 2 of 2)
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Synonyms & Antonyms for downgrade
Synonyms: Noun
decadence, declension, declination, decline, degeneracy, degeneration, degradation, dégringolade, descent, deterioration, devolution, downfall, ebb, eclipse, fall
Synonyms: Verb
break, bust, degrade, demote, disrate, reduce
Antonyms: Noun
Antonyms: Verb
advance, elevate, promote, raise
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Examples of downgrade in a Sentence
Noun
a downgrade in the company's stock prices a singing career on the downgradeVerb
The restaurant was downgraded from three to two stars. She didn't intend to downgrade the importance of her colleague's work.
Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
His promotion represents a downgrade at the position for the Colts. — Andy Benoit, SI.com, "Jacoby Brissett Takes Over as the Colts’ Starting Quarterback," 25 Aug. 2019 Since the start of 2019, the airline has hit a near-constant spell of turbulence, including the surprise resignation of its CEO, the axing of key transatlantic routes, and multiple analyst downgrades. — Natasha Frost, Quartz, "Why Norwegian Air is failing," 21 Aug. 2019 Here’s a look at the finished project. Downsize but not a downgradeSandra and her husband Robert Bleau had been looking to downsize from their previous home, a custom build by Courtney. — azcentral, "Couple downsizes but upgrades their Fountain Hills home with help of former Suns player. Take a look," 8 Aug. 2019 The cartel also left its demand-growth target unchanged in June, following downgrades to demand estimates in recent months that sent prices tumbling. — Amrith Ramkumar, WSJ, "Oil’s Rebound Above $60 Increases Focus on Technicals," 11 July 2019 Think of Sandbox as an upgrade over WDAG, or a slight downgrade over a full-fledged Hyper-V window. — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, "Who needs Windows 10 Pro: 5 reasons to upgrade," 5 Mar. 2019 But what wasn't mentioned in press coverage at the time was that her new pact is a significant downgrade from her Sony deal. — Tatiana Siegel, The Hollywood Reporter, "How Film Producers Became the New Expendables: "There's Panic and Confusion"," 15 Aug. 2019 The downgrade followed very weak figures for the April-June period, when GDP shrank by 3.3% compared to the first quarter of the year. — Laura He, CNN, "Singapore is heading for a recession. The trade war is hurting," 13 Aug. 2019 Heck, the Xiaomi Mi A1 and A2 both shipped with 1080p displays, so why the sudden downgrade? — Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, "Xiaomi’s Mi A3 brings stock Android, OLED display for €249," 17 July 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
Wall Street analysts have downgraded 3M’s stock, citing potential legal liabilities of up to $6 billion. — Bob Shaw, Twin Cities, "Billion-dollar lawsuits: Will non-stick chemicals finally stick on 3M?," 17 Aug. 2019 Freedom House downgraded Hong Kong’s freedom score (100 = good, 0 = bad) from 68 in 2014 to 59 in 2019, reflecting China’s suppression of speech and civil liberties. — Mona Charen, National Review, "What Hong Kong Means for the U.S.," 16 Aug. 2019 After credit rating agencies downgraded Nassau’s bonds to near junk, the State Legislature established an independent board, the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, to oversee the county’s finances. — Sam Roberts, New York Times, "Thomas S. Gulotta, 75, Republican Who Led Nassau County, Dies," 7 Aug. 2019 After Rosenstein downgraded the case from criminal to civil, other Trump appointees concluded that the settlement amount should be about half of what staff prosecutors in the District of Massachusetts had sought. — Jesse Eisinger, ProPublica, "How Trump’s Political Appointees Overruled Tougher Settlements With Big Banks," 4 Aug. 2019 Standard & Poor’s, a credit-rating agency, downgraded Pfizer’s debt on the news. — The Economist, "Pfizer and Mylan want to create a generic-drug giant," 1 Aug. 2019 According to a report from Reuters, the e-commerce giant had to scrap an internal project that was trying to use AI to vet job applications after the software consistently downgraded female candidates. — James Vincent, The Verge, "Amazon reportedly scraps internal AI recruiting tool that was biased against women," 10 Oct. 2018 Sorry, Jared Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner no longer has access to some classified information, after his interim security clearance was downgraded. — Jessica Estepa, USA TODAY, "OnPolitics Today: Are you aware that we're making history?," 27 Feb. 2018 Officials later canceled the warnings after it was downgraded hours after the earthquake. — Jennifer Calfas, Time, "A Tsunami Warning Blared on Phones Across the Country This Morning. It Was a Mistake," 6 Feb. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'downgrade.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for downgrade
downgrade
nounFinancial Definition of downgrade
What It Is
A downgrade is an announcement of an analyst lowering their opinion on the desirability of a company as an investment. It can apply to either debt or equity.
How It Works
Downgrades can come from a variety of sources: brokerage firms, research firms, ratings agencies, etc.
Downgrades of equities can happen for several reasons, but usually they center on industry, regulatory, technology, or management changes that the analyst feels will hinder the issuer's future performance. These factors create fundamental shifts in the analyst's outlook, making the security appear either fully valued or overvalued.
Debt downgrades generally come from ratings agencies such as Moody's or Standard & Poor's (S&P). A downgrade from one of them is a major signal that an issuer is more likely to default on its debt. If a bond is downgraded to a level below investment grade (aka, "junk"), there is often a serious sell off of those bonds, because most institutional investors are forbidden from owning junk bonds.
Why It Matters
Ratings have a large influence on the demand of a security. Downgrades (or even rumors of downgrades) tell investors that a security is now believed to be riskier, which may have a negative impact on the security's price. In turn, downgrades often lead to less trading activity and lowered liquidity.
Source: Investing Answers
downgrade
noun
English Language Learners Definition of downgrade
(Entry 1 of 2)