Degenerate (noun) Definition, Meaning & Examples

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verb (used without object), de·gen·er·at·ed, de·gen·er·at·ing.
  1. 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.
  2. to diminish in quality, especially from a former state of coherence, balance, integrity, etc.: The debate degenerated into an exchange of insults.
  3. to lose functional activity, as a tissue or organ.
  4. (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.
verb (used with object), de·gen·er·at·ed, de·gen·er·at·ing.
  1. to cause degeneration in; bring about a decline, deterioration, or reversion in.
adjective
  1. having fallen below a normal or desirable level, especially in physical or moral qualities; deteriorated; degraded: a degenerate king.
  2. having lost, or become impaired with respect to, the qualities proper to the species or kind: a degenerate vine.
  3. characterized by or associated with degeneracy: degenerate times.
  4. pertaining to a limiting case of a mathematical system that is more symmetrical or simpler in form than the general case.
  5. Physics.
    • (of modes of vibration of a system) having the same frequency.
    • (of quantum states of a system) having equal energy.
noun
  1. a person who has declined, as in morals or character, from a type or standard considered normal.
  2. a person or thing that reverts to an earlier stage of culture, development, or evolution.
  3. a sexual deviate.
verb (dɪˈdʒɛnəˌreɪt) (intr)
  1. to become degenerate
  2. (of organisms or their parts) to become less specialized or functionally useless
adjective (dɪˈdʒɛnərɪt)
  1. having declined or deteriorated to a lower mental, moral, or physical level; debased; degraded; corrupt
  2. 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
  3. (of a code) containing symbols that represent more than one letter, figure, etc
  4. (of a plant or animal) having undergone degeneration
noun (dɪˈdʒɛnərɪt)
  1. a degenerate person
Degenerate (noun) Definition, Meaning & Examples

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