Debasement - Financial definition
Concise definition of the term debasement
Debasement is the act of voluntarily lowering the value of a currency, particularly a commodity money.
Comprehensive definition of the term debasement
The practice of currency debasement goes back to at least the times of the Roman empire. Emperors started reducing the quantity of gold, silver, copper or nickel in the coins they minted, either by reducing the size of the coins, or by adding metals with lower intrinsic value.