transitive verb
to lower oneself in rank, office, or prestige
… the shame that had abased him within and without …—James Joyce
to lower physically
As we enter among them the great elephant makes us a bow in the best style of elephantine courtesy, bending lowly down his mountain bulk, with trunk abased and leg thrust out behind. —Nathaniel Hawthorne
I think paizo suggest this word for both meanings. Either changes the diction of a narrator to suggest a more formal form of speech, which can help with a dramatic scene.