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View synonyms for degeneration

degeneration

[ dih-jen-uh-rey-shuhn ]

noun

  1. the process of degenerating.
  2. the condition or state of being degenerate.
  3. Pathology.
    1. a process by which a tissue deteriorates, loses functional activity, and may become converted into or replaced by other kinds of tissue.
    2. the condition produced by such a process.


degeneration

/ dɪˌdʒɛnəˈreɪʃən /

noun

  1. the process of degenerating
  2. the state of being degenerate
  3. biology the loss of specialization, function, or structure by organisms and their parts, as in the development of vestigial organs
    1. impairment or loss of the function and structure of cells or tissues, as by disease or injury, often leading to death (necrosis) of the involved part
    2. the resulting condition
  4. electronics negative feedback of a signal
“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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Other Words From

  • nonde·gener·ation noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of degeneration1

First recorded in 1475–85, degeneration is from the Late Latin word dēgenerātiōn- (stem of dēgenerātiō ). See de-, generation
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Example Sentences

Over the years, Sullivan Ramirez herself has struggled with nerve degeneration and scleroderma, a rare condition that involves the tightening of the skin and connective tissues.

Quiroz has also identified a woman with a protective genetic mutation that kept her from developing cognitive impairments and brain degeneration even though her brain showed high levels of amyloid, a protein implicated in Alzheimer’s development.

The brain slowly undergoes degeneration in a way similar to aging.

Meanwhile, Staahl was looking at treatment for disorders that specifically lead to neural degeneration – something that had not previously been part of Doudna’s lab’s research prior to him joining.

Unfortunately this is the degeneration of synaptic junctions and the inability of growing new neurons.

Writing on stars are mostly about gossip and scandal, a degeneration into lifestyle reporting.

And in her final years, when she was blinded by macular degeneration and suffocating with emphysema, vanity left her isolated.

Two things become more likely with age, she said: degeneration and cancer.

When RPE cells die, as they do in macular degeneration, the photoreceptors begin to die, too, and the patient goes blind.

Except in this disease, the degeneration indicates a serious blood condition.

Sir John had lately noticed another degeneration, namely, in the quality of the London gas.

The degeneration of the original species is still greater in our climates.

Finally he takes to drinking and becomes a picture of degeneration.

That any degeneration might come in by the way, that the printed text might contain blunders, was not perceived.

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degenerate statedegenerative