degeneration

See also: Degeneration and dégénération

English

Etymology

From French dégénération, from Latin dēgenerātiō.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˌdʒɛnəˈɹeɪʃən/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən
• Hyphenation: de‧gen‧er‧ation

Noun

degeneration (usually uncountable, plural degenerations)

1. (uncountable, countable) 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.

   • 1987, Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae, page 10:

     Hence, regional soil degenerations and podsolization was probably an important factor contributing to the retrogressive change in the forest composition at the end of the mesocratic phase..

   • 2025 October 12, Simon Tisdall, quoting Emmanuel Macron, “France is not alone in its crisis of political faith – belief in a democratic world is vanishing”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Emmanuel Macron sounded like a man in grief. Not angry, not defiant, just a little triste. Europe, he lamented, was suffering a “degeneration of democracy”.

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.
   • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:

     cockle, aracus, […] and other degenerations

Synonyms

• (process or state of growing worse): decadence, decline, degradation, debasement, degeneracy, deterioration
• (gaming slang): nerf

Derived terms

• biodegeneration
• citrus vein phloem degeneration
• cytodegeneration
• degenerationism
• degenerationist
• hepatolenticular degeneration
• hyaline degeneration
• macular degeneration
• microdegeneration
• myelodegeneration
• myodegeneration
• neurodegeneration
• nondegeneration
• osteodegeneration
• predegeneration
• vasodegeneration
• Wallerian degeneration

Related terms

• degenerate
• degenerative

Translations

process or state of growing worse

• Bulgarian: израждане (bg) n (izraždane)
• Catalan: degeneració f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 惡化 / 恶化 (zh) (èhuà), 退行 (zh) (tuìxíng) (pathology)

• Danish: degeneration c, forfald (da) n
• Finnish: rappeutuminen (fi)
• Galician: dexeneración (gl) f
• German: Entartung (de) f
• Hebrew: החמרה
• Hungarian: elkorcsosulás (hu), degeneráltság (hu)
• Irish: meathlú m
• Italian: degenerazione (it) f
• Japanese: 悪化 (ja) (あっか, akka)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: degenerasjon m

  Nynorsk: degenerasjon m

• Polish: zwyrodnienie, degeneracja (pl)
• Portuguese: degeneração (pt) f
• Romanian: degenerare (ro) f, degradare (ro) f, degenerări f pl
• Russian: вырожде́ние (ru) n (vyroždénije), упа́док (ru) m (upádok)
• Spanish: degeneración (es) f

condition of a tissue or an organ in which its vitality has become diminished

• Bulgarian: дегенера́ция (bg) f (degenerácija)
• Catalan: degeneració f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 退化 (zh) (tuìhuà)

• Danish: degeneration c
• Finnish: rappeuma
• French: dégénérescence (fr) f, dégénération (fr) f
• Galician: dexeneración (gl) f
• German: Degeneration (de) f
• Hebrew: דגנרציה (he) f
• Hindi: अपघटन m (apaghṭan)
• Hungarian: elfajulás (hu), degeneráció (hu)
• Italian: degenerazione (it) f
• Japanese: 退化 (ja) (たいか, taika)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: degenerasjon m

  Nynorsk: degenerasjon m

• Polish: degeneracja (pl)
• Portuguese: degeneração (pt) f
• Romanian: degenerare (ro) f
• Russian: дегенера́ция (ru) f (degenerácija)
• Spanish: degeneración (es) f

gradual deterioration, from natural causes, of any class of animals or plants

• Danish: degeneration c
• Finnish: degeneraatio (fi), rappeutuminen (fi)
• French: dégénérescence (fr) f, dégénération (fr) f
• Galician: dexeneración (gl) f
• Hebrew: התנוונות
• Hindi: अपघटन m (apaghṭan)
• Hungarian: hanyatlás (hu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: degenerasjon m

  Nynorsk: degenerasjon m

• Polish: zwyrodnienie n
• Portuguese: degeneração (pt) f
• Romanian: degenerare (ro) f
• Russian: вырожде́ние (ru) n (vyroždénije), дегенера́ция (ru) f (degenerácija)
• Spanish: degeneración (es) f

something degenerated

• Finnish: rappeuma
• Galician: dexeneración (gl) f
• Spanish: degeneración (es) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} התנוונות f (hitnavnut) (1,2,3)

Danish

Noun

degeneration c (singular definite degenerationen, not used in plural form)

1. degeneration

Declension

Declension of degeneration

common gender	singular
	indefinite	definite
nominative	degeneration	degenerationen
genitive	degenerations	degenerationens

Further reading

• “degeneration” in Den Danske Ordbog

Swedish

Noun

degeneration c

1. degeneration

Declension

Declension of degeneration

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	degeneration	degenerations
	definite	degenerationen	degenerationens
plural	indefinite	—	—
	definite	—	—

Further reading

• “degeneration”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “degeneration”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “degeneration”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)