downgrade

From down- +‎ grade.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊnˌɡɹeɪd/
• Hyphenation: down‧grade

downgrade (plural downgrades)

1. A reduction of a rating, as a financial or credit rating.

downgrade (third-person singular simple present downgrades, present participle downgrading, simple past and past participle downgraded)

1. To place lower in position.

   The stock was downgraded from 'buy' to 'sell'.

2. To 'dumb down', reduce in complexity, or remove unnecessary parts.
   • 2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The Onion AV Club‎:

     More significantly, rigid deference to Bieber’s still-young core fan base keeps things resolutely PG, with any acknowledgement of sex either couched in vague “touch your body” workarounds or downgraded to desirous hand-holding and eye-gazing.

3. (transitive) To disparage.
   • 1981, King Royer, Construction Manager in the 80's (page 278)

     Without downgrading my friends in the Building Trades, driving a nail or sawing a board is relatively simple.

4. (meteorology) to reduce the official estimate of a storm's intensity.
5. (computing) To revert software back to an older version.

• degrade
• demote
• defame
• reduce
• revert
• ruin

• dead wrong, dead-wrong, dog warden