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

It offered one more assurance, had I needed it, of the degenerate state of the civilization upon which I was turning my back.

From Frenzied Fiction by Leacock, Stephen

In the degenerate state, when the victim of society, he tends to become a mere thinker, or, still worse, the parrot of other men's thinking.

From Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Turpin, Edna Henry Lee

This degenerate state of the foot has other complications.

From Rational Horse-Shoeing by Russell, John E.

Anna Byns, an oracle with the Catholic party, wrote when the language was in its most degenerate state, under Margaret of Austria.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 36, October, 1860 by Various

In the degenerate state, when the victim of society, he tends to become a mere thinker, or still worse, the parrot of other men's thinking.

From Ralph Waldo Emerson by Holmes, Oliver Wendell