degenerate

comparative more degenerate · superlative most degenerate

1. Having deteriorated, degraded or fallen from normal, coherent, balanced and desirable to undesirable and typically abnormal.
2. Having lost good or desirable qualities; hence also having bad character or habits, base, immoral, corrupt.

   As you grew more degenerate and base, / I sent you millions of the croaking race

   a. 1746 (date written), Jonathan Swift, “Verses on St. Patrick’s Well”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume VII, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 341

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   Farwell faint-hearted and degenerate King, / In whose cold blood no sparke of Honor bides.

   c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]

   But what can Cato do Againſt a World, a baſe degenerate World, That courts the Yoke, and bows the Neck to Cæſar?

   1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2

   If my boy is not tempted to gamble at a fashionable card party he will never learn from the degenerate, blackleg gamblers in the joint.

   1918, Alexander Corkey, The Vision of Joy, or When "Billy" Sunday Came to Town

   The author explores the gap between the degenerate, elitist society of the domes and the working population. He criticizes the world of luxury and ease that easily ignores the sufferings of the majority.

   1985 February 2, Tim Broadbent, “Kindred Spirits (review)”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 28, page 10

   What are the odds that an alcoholic and degenerate gambler with no money management skills could survive in a city that ate addicts for lunch and dreams for dinner?

   2013, Artie Lange, Crash and Burn

3. Having lost functionality in general.

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   It is likely that the long evolutionary trajectory of Mycoplasma went from a reductive autotroph to oxidative heterotroph to a cell-wall–defective degenerate parasite. This evolutionary trajectory assumes the simplicity to complexity route of biogenesis, a point of view that is not universally accepted.

   2013 March 28, Harold J. Morowitz, “The Smallest Cell”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 04 Jan 2017, page 83

4. 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.

5. mathematicsQualitatively different, usually simpler, than typical objects of its class.

   A degenerate circle, having radius zero, consists of a single point.

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   We now apply the geometrical construction explained in the appendix to the degenerate triangle ABC.

   1921, A. Hay, “Phase Transformation and Phase Balancing”, in Journal of the Indian Institute of Science, volume 4, page 102

6. mathematicsHaving multiple different (linearly independent) eigenvectors.
7. natural sciencesHaving the same quantum energy level.

plural degenerates

1. 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.

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   The undeveloped or mysterically confused thought which exists in savages is fully exemplified in the childish or crazy atavistic anthropomorphism and symbolism so prevalent among degenerates.

   1911 May, “Insanity and the Art of the Borderland”, in The International Studio, volume 32, number 171, page 32

   After all, a lot of old standards would judge us all a nation of degenerates, with our phone-gambling and modern art and cereal commercials featuring multiracial families.

   2026 July 9, Nitsuh Abebe, “Has There Ever Been a Better Time to Be a ‘Degenerate’?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

present singular third person degenerates · participle present degenerating · participle past degenerated · past degenerated

1. intransitiveTo lose good or desirable qualities.

   His condition continued to degenerate even after admission to hospital.

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   Another bird quickly learned to imitate the song of a canary that was mated with it, but as the parrakeet improved in the performance the canary degenerated, and came at last to mingle the other bird's harsh chitterings with its own proper music.

   1870, Shirley Hibberd, Rustic Adornments for Homes of Taste, page 170

   The haploid ovum is now called an ootid (Fig. 8—7). The second polar body degenerates, sometimes dividing before it dies.

   1991, Richard E. Jones, Human Reproductive Biology, page 181

   Cumaratunga was so furious that he intensified his campaign for revitalizing the traditional practices of asweddumization, so that neglected arable land could be rehabilitated, and a degenerating economy restructured and rejuvenated.

   1992, Alavattāgoḍa Pēmadāsa, Cumaratunga, the Unknown: Hidden Facets of His Scientific Profile, page 115

2. transitiveTo cause to lose good or desirable qualities.