noun, adjective, adverb, verb, -grad⋅ed, -grad⋅ing.| 1. | a downward slope, esp. of a road. |
| 2. | downhill. |
| 3. | to assign to a lower status with a smaller salary. |
| 4. | to minimize the importance of; denigrate: She tried to downgrade the findings of the investigation. |
| 5. | to assign a lower security classification to (information, a document, etc.). |
| 6. | on the downgrade, in a decline toward an inferior state or position: His career has been on the downgrade. |