degenerate
to fall below a normal or desirable level in physical, mental, or moral qualities; deteriorate: The morale of the soldiers degenerated, and they were unable to fight.
to diminish in quality, especially from a former state of coherence, balance, integrity, etc.: The debate degenerated into an exchange of insults.
Pathology. to lose functional activity, as a tissue or organ.
Evolution. (of a species or any of its traits or structures) to revert to a simple, less highly organized, or less functionally active type, as a parasitic plant that has lost its taproot or the vestigial wings of a flightless bird.
to cause degeneration in; bring about a decline, deterioration, or reversion in.
having fallen below a normal or desirable level, especially in physical or moral qualities; deteriorated; degraded: a degenerate king.
having lost, or become impaired with respect to, the qualities proper to the species or kind: a degenerate vine.
characterized by or associated with degeneracy: degenerate times.
Mathematics. pertaining to a limiting case of a mathematical system that is more symmetrical or simpler in form than the general case.
Physics.
(of modes of vibration of a system) having the same frequency.
(of quantum states of a system) having equal energy.
a person who has declined, as in morals or character, from a type or standard considered normal.
a person or thing that reverts to an earlier stage of culture, development, or evolution.
a sexual deviate.
Origin of degenerate
1Other words for degenerate
Other words from degenerate
- de·gen·er·ate·ly, adverb
- de·gen·er·ate·ness, noun
- non·de·gen·er·ate, adjective, noun
- non·de·gen·er·ate·ly, adverb
- non·de·gen·er·ate·ness, noun
- pre·de·gen·er·ate, adjective
- un·de·gen·er·ate, adjective
- un·de·gen·er·at·ed, adjective
- un·de·gen·er·at·ing, adjective
Words Nearby degenerate
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use degenerate in a sentence
You’d put a mask on the little degenerate to keep him from spewing it all too far.
Terrible Year, Great Discoveries: Our Favorite Stories of 2020 | Randy Dotinga | December 24, 2020 | Voice of San DiegoIt is hifalutin talk for an industry currently dominated by financial sharks and Bitcoin whales who frequently describe themselves as “degenerates.”
Prove that there is a set of n points in the plane such that the distance between any two points is irrational and each set of three points determines a non-degenerate triangle with rational area.
At the Math Olympiad, Computers Prepare to Go for the Gold - Facts So Romantic | Kevin Hartnett | September 22, 2020 | NautilusLosses can also occur after a chance gene duplication, when the superfluous copy degenerates, since selection no longer preserves it.
By Losing Genes, Life Often Evolved More Complexity | Viviane Callier | September 1, 2020 | Quanta MagazineOver the subsequent two quarters, SERP visibility continued to degenerate with a lingering active manual penalty.
Then, with a grin, “And we all know how degenerate those people are.”
‘Mozart in the Jungle’: Inside Amazon’s Brave New World of Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music | Kevin Fallon | December 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe popular narrative is that Hitler and his Nazi regime thought all modern art was "degenerate."
Top Nazis And Their Complicated Relationship With Artists | William O’Connor | November 30, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBeing a fan of Liquid Sky carries the cachet of degenerate hipness to this day, 32 years after it was filmed.
Punks, UFOs, and Heroin: How ‘Liquid Sky’ Became a Cult Movie | Daniel Genis | June 2, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTFew of us would argue that such thoughts render someone a moral degenerate—or even as grievously ignorant.
The Supreme Court Steps Back From Tokenism Under a New Name | John McWhorter | June 24, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTProtests that routinely degenerate into rock-throwing are not, in fact, nonviolent.
What the armor-bearer was for the warlike races of old, such is the tchbukdi for their degenerate descendants.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce | E. R. Billings.Avoid sarcasm; it will, unconsciously to yourself, degenerate into pertness, and often downright rudeness.
The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness | Florence HartleyHe observes, also, that these grapes degenerate in the south, but do well in the north in dry and stony soil.
The Art of Drinking | Georg Gottfried GervinusWe infer from his writings that his age was degenerate and corrupt, but, as we have already said, his reproofs were gentle.
Beacon Lights of History, Volume I | John LordThe Curaoa track is hardly passable, but it must be trod to-morrow by the degenerate feet of their successor the Wallaroos.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 25 (of 25) | Robert Louis Stevenson
British Dictionary definitions for degenerate
to become degenerate
biology (of organisms or their parts) to become less specialized or functionally useless
having declined or deteriorated to a lower mental, moral, or physical level; debased; degraded; corrupt
physics
(of the constituents of a system) having the same energy but different wave functions
(of a semiconductor) containing a similar number of electrons in the conduction band to the number of electrons in the conduction band of metals
(of a resonant device) having two or more modes of equal frequency
(of a code) containing symbols that represent more than one letter, figure, etc
(of a plant or animal) having undergone degeneration
a degenerate person
Origin of degenerate
1Derived forms of degenerate
- degenerately, adverb
- degenerateness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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