| Part of Speech | Definition | |
| Verb | 1. To deteriorate, spoil, impair or ruin.
[Eve - graph theoretic] 2. To retract or withdraw.[Eve - graph theoretic] 3. Present participle conjugation of the verb degenerate.[Eve - graph theoretic] | |
| Adverb Base (degenerately) | 1. In a degenerate manner; unworthily.[Websters]. 2. In a vicious or defective manner.[Eve - graph theoretic] 3. In a perverse, corrupt, putrid or bad manner.[Eve - graph theoretic] 4. In a decadent or effete manner.[Eve - graph theoretic] 5. In a depraved or debauched manner.[Eve - graph theoretic] 6. In a dissolute, wanton or lecherous manner.[Eve - graph theoretic] 7. In a rotten, unsound or rancid manner.[Eve - graph theoretic] 8. In a foul or lewd manner.[Eve - graph theoretic] 9. Infrequently used adverbial inflection of the adjective degenerate.[Eve - graph theoretic] | |
| Verb Base (degenerate) | 1. Grow worse; "Conditions in the slums degenerated".[Wordnet]. 2. Grow worse; "Her condition deteriorated"; "Conditions in the slums degenerated"; "The discussion devolved into a shouting match".[Wordnet]. 3. 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.[Websters]. 4. To fall off from the normal quality or the healthy structure of its kind; to become of a lower type.[Websters]. 5. Base verb from the following inflections: degenerating, degenerated, degenerates, degenerator, degenerators, degeneratingly and degeneratedly.[Eve - graph theoretic] | |
| Adjective | 1. Being dwindling, decreasing or diminishing.
[Eve - graph theoretic] 2. Being withering.[Eve - graph theoretic] | |
Sources: compiled from various sources, (under license) copyright 2008. | Top | |
Date "DEGENERATING" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1588. (references) |
Specialty Definition: degenerate
| Domain | Definition | ||
| Satire | DEGENERATE, 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. Source: Devil's Dictionary | ||
| Noah Webster | 1: [Verb] To become worse; to decay in good qualities; to pass from a good to a bad or worse state; to lose or suffer a diminution of valuable qualities, either in the natural or moral world. In the natural world, plants and animals degenerate when they grow to a less size than usual, or lose a part of the valuable qualities which belong to the species. In the moral world, men degenerate when they decline in virtue, or other good qualities. Manners degenerate when they become corrupt. Wit may degenerate into indecency or impiety.. | 2: [Adjective] Having fallen from a perfect or good state into a less excellent or worse state; having lost something of the good qualities possessed; having declined in natural or moral worth. The degenerate plant of a strange vine. Jer. 2.. Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary. | |
| Language | D. having declined in physical or moral qualities; deteriorated, degraded. Source: European Union. (references) | ||
| Literature | Degenerate (4 syl.) is to be worse than the parent stock. (Latin, de genus.). Source: Brewer's Dictionary. | ||
| Wiktionary | 1: [Adjective] (mathematics) a degenerate case is a limiting case in which a class of object changes its nature so as to belong to another, usually simpler, class. (references) | 2: [Adjective] (of a human or system) having lost good or desirable qualities. (references) | 3: [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. (references) | 4: [Adjective] (of qualities) having deteriorated, degraded or fallen from normal, coherent, balanced and desirable to an undesirable and typically abnormal. (references) | 5: [Noun] One is degenerate, who has fallen from previous stature. You are a degenerate, boy. You're a disgrace to your ancestors. (references) | 6: [Verb] (intransitive) (of humans or systems) to lose good or desirable qualities; His condition continued to degenerate even after admission to hospital. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top | ||
Common Expressions: degenerate
| Expressions | Definition | ||
| Degenerate dwarf | A Degenerate dwarf is a type of star, an alternative name for what is commonly called a White dwarf (see this reference for a more complete article). (references) | ||
| Degenerate energy level | In physics two or more physical states are said to be degenerate if they are both at the same energy level; the energy level is said to be degenerate if it contains two or more such states. The number of occupation states available at a particular energy level is called the level's degeneracy. (references) | ||
| Degenerate form | Implies that x = 0. (references) | ||
| Degenerate music | Degenerate music was a label applied by the Nazi government in Germany to certain forms of music that it considered to be harmful or decadent. The Nazi government's concern for degenerate music was a part of its larger and more well-known interest in degenerate art. In both cases, the government attempted to isolate, discredit, discourage, or ban the works. (references) | ||
| Degenerate orbitals | Degenerate Orbitals for electrons in an atomic subshell are orbitals at identical energy levels (by definition). These are important in Physical Chemistry because they effect the ways electrons fill atoms (see Hund's rule). (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top | ||
Specialty Expressions: degenerate
| Expressions | Domain | Definition | |
| Degenerate code | Geology | The fact that in most cases in the genetic code used by all life on Earth, one particular amino acid is specified by more than one three-base combination of the four nitrogenous bases (called a codon). There are enough different codons to specify 64 different amino acids, but there are in actuality only 20 amino acids (and three stop codons) used in the making of proteins. (references) | |
| Degenerate Configuration | Physics | Magnetic field configuration in which the magnetic lines of force close exactly on themselves after passing around the configuration a finite number of times. (references) | |
| Degenerate distribution | Statistics | A distribution consisting of a mass concentrated at a single point x= k. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top | ||
