'Degenerate' definitions:
Definition of 'degenerate'
(from WordNet)
adjective
Unrestrained by convention or morality; "Congreve draws a debauched aristocratic society"; "deplorably dissipated and degraded"; "riotous living"; "fast women" [syn: debauched, degenerate, degraded, dissipated, dissolute, libertine, profligate, riotous, fast]
noun
A person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior [syn: pervert, deviant, deviate, degenerate]
verb
Grow worse; "Her condition deteriorated"; "Conditions in the slums degenerated"; "The discussion devolved into a shouting match" [syn: devolve, deteriorate, drop, degenerate] [ant: convalesce, recover, recuperate]
Definition of 'Degenerate'
From: GCIDE
- Degenerate \De*gen"er*ate\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Degenerated; p. pr. & vb. n. Degenerating.]
- 1. 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. [1913 Webster]
- When wit transgresseth decency, it degenerates into insolence and impiety. --Tillotson. [1913 Webster]
- 2. (Biol.) To fall off from the normal quality or the healthy structure of its kind; to become of a lower type. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Degenerate'
From: GCIDE
- Degenerate \De*gen"er*ate\, a. [L. degeneratus, p. p. of degenerare to degenerate, cause to degenerate, fr. degener base, degenerate, that departs from its race or kind; de- + genus race, kind. See Kin relationship.] Having become worse than one's kind, or one's former state; having declined in worth; having lost in goodness; deteriorated; degraded; unworthy; base; low. [1913 Webster]
- Faint-hearted and degenerate king. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- A degenerate and degraded state. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- Degenerate from their ancient blood. --Swift. [1913 Webster]
- These degenerate days. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
- I had planted thee a noble vine . . . : how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? --Jer. ii. 21. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'degenerate'
From: GCIDE
- degenerate \de*gen"er*ate\, n.
- 1. a person who has declined from a high standard, especially a sexual deviate; -- usually used disparagingly or opprobriously of persons whose sexual behavior does not conform to the norms of accepted morals. [PJC]
- 2. a person or thing that has fallen from a higher to a lower state, or reverted to an earlier type or stage of development or culture. --RHUD [PJC]
Synonyms of 'degenerate'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- abandoned,
- adulterate,
- alloy,
- alter,
- altered,
- ameliorate,
- apostate,
- apostatize,
- backslide,
- backslider,
- bad egg,
- bad lot,
- base,
- be changed,
- be converted into,
- be renewed,
- better,
- black sheep,
- bottom out,
- break,
- canker,
- change,
- changeable,
- changed,
- cheapen,
- checker,
- chop,
- chop and change,
- coarsen,
- come about,
- come apart,
- come around,
- come down,
- come round,
- coming apart,
- confound,
- contaminate,
- contaminated,
- converted,
- corrupt,
- corrupted,
- cracking,
- crumbling,
- debase,
- debased,
- debauch,
- debauched,
- debauchee,
- decadent,
- decay,
- decayed,
- decline,
- declining,
- defect,
- defile,
- deflower,
- degrade,
- degraded,
- denature,
- deprave,
- depraved,
- descend,
- desecrate,
- desert,
- despoil,
- deteriorate,
- deteriorating,
- devalue,
- deviant,
- deviate,
- disimprove,
- disintegrate,
- disintegrating,
- dissolute,
- dissolve into chaos,
- distort,
- diverge,
- divergent,
- diversify,
- draining,
- drooping,
- dwindling,
- ebbing,
- effete,
- err,
- fading,
- failing,
- fall,
- fall back,
- fallen angel,
- falling,
- flagging,
- flagitious,
- flop,
- fragmenting,
- get worse,
- go astray,
- go downhill,
- go to pot,
- go wrong,
- going to pieces,
- grow worse,
- haul around,
- have a comedown,
- hit rock bottom,
- ignoble,
- improve,
- improved,
- infamous,
- infect,
- inferior,
- jibe,
- languishing,
- lapse,
- lecher,
- let down,
- lost sheep,
- lost soul,
- low,
- marcescent,
- meliorate,
- metamorphosed,
- metastasized,
- miscreant,
- misuse,
- mitigate,
- modified,
- modulate,
- morally polluted,
- mutant,
- mutate,
- nefarious,
- overripe,
- pervert,
- perverted,
- pimp,
- pining,
- poison,
- pollute,
- polluted,
- profligate,
- prostitute,
- qualified,
- rake,
- rakehell,
- ravage,
- ravish,
- reach the depths,
- rebuilt,
- recidivist,
- recreant,
- reformed,
- regress,
- regressive,
- relapse,
- renegade,
- renege,
- renewed,
- reprobate,
- retrograde,
- retrogress,
- retrogressive,
- return,
- revert,
- revive,
- revived,
- revolutionary,
- rot,
- rotten,
- roue,
- scapegrace,
- shift,
- shriveling,
- sicken,
- sink,
- sinking,
- slacken,
- sliding,
- slip,
- slip back,
- slipping,
- slumping,
- sorry lot,
- steeped in iniquity,
- subsiding,
- subversive,
- swerve,
- tabetic,
- tack,
- taint,
- tainted,
- take a turn,
- touch bottom,
- traitorous,
- transformed,
- translated,
- transmuted,
- treasonable,
- trip,
- trollop,
- turn,
- turn against,
- turn aside,
- turn into,
- turn the corner,
- turn traitor,
- twist,
- ulcerate,
- undergo a change,
- unhealthy,
- unmitigated,
- untune,
- vary,
- veer,
- vice-corrupted,
- vicious,
- vile,
- villainous,
- violate,
- vitiate,
- vitiated,
- vulgarize,
- waning,
- warp,
- warped,
- wasting,
- wastrel,
- weaken,
- whore,
- wilting,
- withering,
- worse,
- worsen,
- worsening
Words containing 'Degenerate'
- Degenerated,
- Degenerately,
- Degenerateness,
- Degenerating,
- Degeneration,
- Degenerous,
- Degenerously,
- Amyloid degeneration,
- Caseous degeneration,
- Fatty degeneration,
- Fibroid degeneration,
- Mucoid degeneration,
- Pigmentary degeneration,
- Wallerian degeneration,
- Waxy degeneration,
- hepatolenticular degeneration,
- macular degeneration,
- age-related macular degeneration