degeneration

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

EB1911 - Volume 01 - Page 001 - 1.svg This entry lacks etymological information. If you are familiar with the origin of this term, please add it to the page as described here.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

degeneration (usually uncountable; plural degenerations)

  1. (uncountable) The process or state of growing worse, or the state of having become worse.
    • 1913, B. H. Carrol, An Interpretation of the English Bible,
      The modern cry of "more liberty and less creed" is a degeneration from a vertebrate to a jellyfish.
  2. (uncountable) That condition of a tissue or an organ in which its vitality has become either diminished or perverted; a substitution of a lower for a higher form of structure.
    fatty degeneration of the liver
  3. (uncountable) Gradual deterioration, from natural causes, of any class of animals or plants or any particular organ or organs; hereditary degradation of type.
  4. (countable) A thing that has degenerated.

Synonyms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Related terms[edit]