degenerate
/dɪˈd͡ʒɛnəɹɪt/ adjective, noun, verb
Forms degenerates degenerating degenerated
- adjective (of qualities) Having deteriorated, degraded or fallen from normal, coherent, balanced and desirable to undesirable and typically abnormal.
- adjective (of a person or system) Having lost good or desirable qualities; hence also having bad character or habits, base, immoral, corrupt.
- adjective Having lost functionality in general.
- adjective (of an encoding or function) Having multiple domain elements correspond to one element of the range. “The genetic code is degenerate because a single amino acid can be coded by one of several codons.”
- adjective (mathematics) Qualitatively different, usually simpler, than typical objects of its class. “A degenerate circle, having radius zero, consists of a single point.”
- adjective (mathematics, of an eigenvalue) Having multiple different (linearly independent) eigenvectors.
- adjective (physics) Having the same quantum energy level.
- noun One who is degenerate, who has fallen from previous stature; an immoral or corrupt person. “In the cult of degenerates, acts of decency, kindness and modesty could be seen as acts of apostasy.”
- verb (intransitive) To lose good or desirable qualities. “His condition continued to degenerate even after admission to hospital.”
- verb (transitive) To cause to lose good or desirable qualities.
Synonyms
pervert deviant deviate devolve deteriorate drop debauched degraded dissipated dissolute libertine profligate riotous fast
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin dēgenerātus. See -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more.
From a substantivation of the above adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix) for more. Compare French dégénéré.
From Latin degenerō + -ate (verb-forming suffix). Compare Italian degenerare, French dégénérer (and its older (and now obsolete) English cognate from Middle French, degener). By surface analysis, de- + generate.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective 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.
- verb 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.
- verb To fall off from the normal quality or the healthy structure of its kind; to become of a lower type.
Etymology [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.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “degenerate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details