Definitions for degenerate

• Definition
• Anagrams (339)

degenerate de·gen·er·ate

Spelling: [verb dih-jen-uh-reyt; adjective, noun dih-

IPA: /verb dɪˈdʒɛn əˌreɪt; adjective, noun dɪˈdʒɛn ər ɪt/

Degenerate is a 10 letter English word. It's valid Scrabble word worth 12 points. It's valid Words with friends word worth 14 points.

You can make 339 anagrams from letters in degenerate (adeeeegnrt).

Definitions for degenerate

verb (used without object)

1. to fall below a normal or desirable level in physical, mental, or moral qualities; deteriorate:
2. to diminish in quality, especially from a former state of coherence, balance, integrity, etc.:
3. Pathology. to lose functional activity, as a tissue or organ.
4. Evolution. (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)

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:
2. having lost, or become impaired with respect to, the qualities proper to the species or kind:
3. characterized by or associated with degeneracy:
4. Mathematics. 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.

Origin of degenerate

1485-95; Latin dēgenerātus (past participle of dēgenerāre to decline from an ancestral standard), equivalent to dē de- + gener-, stem of genus race (see Examples for degenerate

It is the idleness, luxury and corruption of large cities which cause it to degenerate.

Yet these country-people are no more corrupt or degenerate than the townspeople.

Domestic care, like every other, is liable to degenerate into excess.

The Guardian warns, in a page-wide headline, that it could degenerate into a fiasco of Suez 1956 proportions.

We modify it in these degenerate days to "blood will have money:"

Being a fan of Liquid Sky carries the cachet of degenerate hipness to this day, 32 years after it was filmed.

He is a progenitor of what could be called the degenerate school of American fiction.

If the states want to emulate casinos, degenerate, compulsive play is where the money is.

Then, with a grin, “And we all know how degenerate those people are.”

He disliked her child, the little Charles Rougon, who was degenerate and weak-minded.