Degenerate
[dɪ'dʒen(ə)rət] or [dɪ'dʒɛnəret]
Definition
(a.) 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.
(v. i.) 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.
(v. i.) To fall off from the normal quality or the healthy structure of its kind; to become of a lower type.
Typed by Elroy
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. n. Deteriorate, decline, decay, become worse, grow worse.
a. Inferior, mean, base, corrupt, fallen, degenerated.
Typed by Corinne
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:deteriorate, grow_worse, retrograde
ANT:Recover, improve, {[Jiend]?}, advance
Checked by Jerome
Definition
adj. having departed from the high qualities of race or kind: become base—also Degen′erous (obs.).—v.i. to fall from a nobler state: to be or to grow worse.—v.i. Degen′der (Spens.) to degenerate.—ns. Degen′eracy Degenerā′tion the act or process of becoming degenerate: the state of being degenerate.—adv. Degen′erately.—n. Degen′erateness.—adj. Degen′erating.—n. Degenerā′tionist one who believes that the tendency of man is not to improve but to degenerate.—adj. Degen′erative tending or causing to degenerate.
Typed by Annette
Unserious Contents or Definition
adj. Less conspicuously admirable than one's ancestors. The contemporaries of Homer were striking examples of degeneracy; it required ten of them to raise a rock or a riot that one of the heroes of the Trojan war could have raised with ease. Homer never tires of sneering at 'men who live in these degenerate days which is perhaps why they suffered him to beg his bread—a marked instance of returning good for evil, by the way, for if they had forbidden him he would certainly have starved.
Checked by Cordelia
Examples
- Old New York scrupulously observed the etiquette of hospitality, and no discussion with a guest was ever allowed to degenerate into a disagreement. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- And a State may get on without cobblers; but when the guardians degenerate into boon companions, then the ruin is complete. Plato. The Republic.
- Think on the freedom of England, degenerate Prince! Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Then, under the influence either of poverty or of wealth, workmen and their work are equally liable to degenerate? Plato. The Republic.
- Not to appear to disgrace his family, to degenerate from the popular qualities, or lose the influence of the Pemberley House, is a powerful motive. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- But education is not a weed that will grow lustily in any soil, it is a necessary and delicate crop that may easily wilt and degenerate. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The deep bell of St Paul's was striking nine as he passed under the shadow of Temple Bar, headless and forlorn in these degenerate days. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- The poorness of the pasture had, in his opinion, occasioned the degradation of their cattle, which degenerated sensibly from me generation to another. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- In some it is more, in others it is less worn, clipt, and otherwise degenerated from that standard. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- And truly is he so spoken of, said the Grand Master; in our valour only we are not degenerated from our predecessors, the heroes of the Cross. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- But Genoa's greatness has degenerated into an unostentatious commerce in velvets and silver filagree-work. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Do these miserable animals presume to think, that I am so degenerated as to defend my veracity? Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- Such shows were the best possible form of advertising, but in time they degenerated into absurd performances. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Their cultivation degenerated more and more into a growing of potatoes and a feeding of pigs. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- My life was like that of an animal, and my mind was in danger of degenerating into that which informs brute nature. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Such a State is hardly to be realized in this world and quickly degenerates. Plato. The Republic.
- The empiric easily degenerates into the quack. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- All that surrounds him hastens to decay; all declines and degenerates under his sceptre. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
Inputed by Alphonso