Adjacent Words

Degenerate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DEGENERATE, v.i. [L. Grown worse, ignoble, base.]
1. To become worse; to decay in good qualities; to pass from a good to a bad or worse state; to lose or suffer a diminution of valuable qualities, either in the natural or moral world. In the natural world, plants and animals degenerate when they grow to a less size than usual, or lose a part of the valuable qualities which belong to the species. In the moral world, men degenerate when they decline in virtue, or other good qualities. Manners degenerate when they become corrupt. Wit may degenerate into indecency or impiety.
DEGENERATE, a.
1. Having fallen from a perfect or good state into a less excellent or worse state; having lost something of the good qualities possessed; having declined in natural or moral worth.
The degenerate plant of a strange vine. Jeremiah 2.
2. Low; base; mean; corrupt; fallen from primitive or natural excellence; having lost the good qualities of the species. Man is considered a degenerate being. A coward is a man of degenerate spirit.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: unrestrained by convention or morality; "Congreve draws a debauched aristocratic society"; "deplorably dissipated and degraded"; "riotous living"; "fast women" [syn: debauched, degenerate, degraded, dissipated, dissolute, libertine, profligate, riotous, fast] n
1: a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior [syn: pervert, deviant, deviate, degenerate] v
1: grow worse; "Her condition deteriorated"; "Conditions in the slums degenerated"; "The discussion devolved into a shouting match" [syn: devolve, deteriorate, drop, degenerate] [ant: convalesce, recover, recuperate]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English degenerat, from Latin degeneratus, past participle of degenerare to degenerate, from de- + gener-, genus race, kind — more at kin Date: 15th century 1. a. having declined or become less specialized (as in nature, character, structure, or function) from an ancestral or former state b. having sunk to a condition below that which is normal to a type; especially having sunk to a lower and usually corrupt and vicious state c. degraded 2 2. being mathematically simpler (as by having a factor or constant equal to zero) than the typical case <a degenerate hyperbola> 3. characterized by atoms stripped of their electrons and by very great density <degenerate matter>; also consisting of degenerate matter <a degenerate star> 4. having two or more states or subdivisions <degenerate energy level> 5. having more than one codon representing an amino acid; also being such a codon Synonyms: see vicious • degenerately adverb • degenerateness noun II. verb Date: 1545 intransitive verb 1. to pass from a higher to a lower type or condition ; deteriorate 2. to sink into a low intellectual or moral state 3. to decline in quality <the poetry gradually degenerates into jingles> 4. to decline from a condition or from the standards of a species, race, or breed 5. to evolve or develop into a less autonomous or less functionally active form <degenerated into dependent parasites> transitive verb to cause to degenerate III. noun Date: 1555 one that is degenerate: as a. one degraded from the normal moral standard b. a sexual pervert c. one showing signs of reversion to an earlier culture stage

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj., n., & v. --adj. 1 having lost the qualities that are normal and desirable or proper to its kind; fallen from former excellence. 2 Biol. having changed to a lower type. --n. a degenerate person or animal. --v.intr. become degenerate. Derivatives: degeneracy n. degenerately adv. Etymology: L degeneratus past part. of degenerare (as DE-, genus -eris race)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Degenerate De*gen"er*ate, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Degenerated; p. pr. & vb. n. Degenerating.] 1. To be or grow worse than one's kind, or than one was originally; hence, to be inferior; to grow poorer, meaner, or more vicious; to decline in good qualities; to deteriorate. When wit transgresseth decency, it degenerates into insolence and impiety. --Tillotson. 2. (Biol.) To fall off from the normal quality or the healthy structure of its kind; to become of a lower type.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Degenerate De*gen"er*ate, a. [L. degeneratus, p. p. of degenerare to degenerate, cause to degenerate, fr. degener base, degenerate, that departs from its race or kind; de- + genus race, kind. See Kin relationship.] Having become worse than one's kind, or one's former state; having declined in worth; having lost in goodness; deteriorated; degraded; unworthy; base; low. Faint-hearted and degenerate king. --Shak. A degenerate and degraded state. --Milton. Degenerate from their ancient blood. --Swift. These degenerate days. --Pope. I had planted thee a noble vine . . . : how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? --Jer. ii. 21.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(degenerated) 1. If you say that someone or something degenerates, you mean that they become worse in some way, for example weaker, lower in quality, or more dangerous. Inactivity can make your joints stiff, and the bones may begin to degenerate... ...a very serious humanitarian crisis which could degenerate into a catastrophe. = deteriorate VERB: V, V into n • degeneration ...various forms of physical and mental degeneration. 2. If you describe a person or their behaviour as degenerate, you disapprove of them because you think they have low standards of behaviour or morality. ...a group of degenerate computer hackers. ADJ [disapproval] 3. If you refer to someone as a degenerate, you disapprove of them because you think they have low standards of behaviour or morality. N-COUNT [disapproval]

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

de-jen'-er-at: Only in Jer 2:21, where Judah is compared to a "noble vine" which it "turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine." It represents Hebrew curim = "stray" or "degenerate (shoots)," from cur = "to turn aside," especially to turn aside from the right path (Greek pikria, literally, "bitterness").

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. n. Deteriorate, decline, decay, become worse, grow worse, fall off, run down, become enfeebled or impaired or perverted. II. a. Inferior, mean, base, corrupt, fallen, degenerated, decayed, in decadence.

Moby Thesaurus

abandoned, adulterate, alloy, alter, altered, ameliorate, apostate, apostatize, backslide, backslider, bad egg, bad lot, base, be changed, be converted into, be renewed, better, black sheep, bottom out, break, canker, change, changeable, changed, cheapen, checker, chop, chop and change, coarsen, come about, come apart, come around, come down, come round, coming apart, confound, contaminate, contaminated, converted, corrupt, corrupted, cracking, crumbling, debase, debased, debauch, debauched, debauchee, decadent, decay, decayed, decline, declining, defect, defile, deflower, degrade, degraded, denature, deprave, depraved, descend, desecrate, desert, despoil, deteriorate, deteriorating, devalue, deviant, deviate, disimprove, disintegrate, disintegrating, dissolute, dissolve into chaos, distort, diverge, divergent, diversify, draining, drooping, dwindling, ebbing, effete, err, fading, failing, fall, fall back, fallen angel, falling, flagging, flagitious, flop, fragmenting, get worse, go astray, go downhill, go to pot, go wrong, going to pieces, grow worse, haul around, have a comedown, hit rock bottom, ignoble, improve, improved, infamous, infect, inferior, jibe, languishing, lapse, lecher, let down, lost sheep, lost soul, low, marcescent, meliorate, metamorphosed, metastasized, miscreant, misuse, mitigate, modified, modulate, morally polluted, mutant, mutate, nefarious, overripe, pervert, perverted, pimp, pining, poison, pollute, polluted, profligate, prostitute, qualified, rake, rakehell, ravage, ravish, reach the depths, rebuilt, recidivist, recreant, reformed, regress, regressive, relapse, renegade, renege, renewed, reprobate, retrograde, retrogress, retrogressive, return, revert, revive, revived, revolutionary, rot, rotten, roue, scapegrace, shift, shriveling, sicken, sink, sinking, slacken, sliding, slip, slip back, slipping, slumping, sorry lot, steeped in iniquity, subsiding, subversive, swerve, tabetic, tack, taint, tainted, take a turn, touch bottom, traitorous, transformed, translated, transmuted, treasonable, trip, trollop, turn, turn against, turn aside, turn into, turn the corner, turn traitor, twist, ulcerate, undergo a change, unhealthy, unmitigated, untune, vary, veer, vice-corrupted, vicious, vile, villainous, violate, vitiate, vitiated, vulgarize, waning, warp, warped, wasting, wastrel, weaken, whore, wilting, withering, worse, worsen, worsening