Verb

(en-verb)

Break or violate a treaty, a law, a right etc.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Obama goes troll-hunting , passage=According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.}}

Break in or encroach on something.

Verb

(degrad)

To lower in value or social position.

Fred degrades himself by his behaviour.

* Palfrey

Prynne was sentenced by the Star Chamber Court to be degraded from the bar.

To reduce in quality or purity.

The DNA sample has degraded .

(geology) To reduce in altitude or magnitude, as hills and mountains; to wear down.