degenerate state

American  

noun

1. Physics. Usually degenerate states. a quantum state of a system, having the same energy level as, but a different wave function from, another state of the system.

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Etymology

Origin of degenerate state

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

There seems no reason, therefore, why the complaint should be propagated in future, in circumstances favourable to vegetation; and this opinion is the more likely to be true, that it is not inconsistent with the idea of the disease of former years having arisen from a degenerate state of the potato plant, since low temperature and excessive moisture were more likely to affect a plant in a state of degeneracy than when its vitality remains unimpaired.

From Project Gutenberg

Titus Advice as to the course to pursue in helping the church in Crete to overcome degenerate state; church organization, qualification of elders, suppression of false teachers; personal words to Titus; the importance of good works.

From Project Gutenberg

Thus, not long ago, an acquaintance who by no means shares my views of these matters was deploring to me the degenerate state, as he conceived it, of the labourers on certain farms in which he is interested, a few miles away from this valley.

From Project Gutenberg

This degenerate state of the foot has other complications.

From Project Gutenberg

Islamism in these vast territories is in an exceedingly degenerate state when compared with either its first development in the Arabian desert, or with what now obtains in Turkey.

From Project Gutenberg