DEGENERATE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Degenerate

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/dɪdʒˈɛnərət/ /dɪdʒˈɛnərˌeɪt/ Listen

adjective

Degenerate adj. 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. "Faint-hearted and degenerate king." "A degenerate and degraded state." "Degenerate from their ancient blood." "These degenerate days." "I had planted thee a noble vine...: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?"

verb

Degenerate v. i. (past & past part. degenerated; pres. part. degenerating)

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. "When wit transgresseth decency, it degenerates into insolence and impiety."

(Biol.) To fall off from the normal quality or the healthy structure of its kind; to become of a lower type.

noun

degenerate n.

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.

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.

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Etymology of 'Degenerate'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Degenerate" Quotes from Famous Books

... the old coaching days, and the lion on its front is a very impressive monster, one of the few relics of the days when signs were signs in spirit and in truth. In this respect the tavern keeper of to-day is a poor snob, that he thinks a sign painted or carven is degenerate and low, and therefore announces, in a line of letters, that his establishment is the Pig and Whistle, just as his remote predecessor thought it was low, or slow, or old-fashioned to dedicate his ale-shop to Pigen Wassail or Hail to the Virgin, and ...

— The Gypsies • Charles G. Leland

... and where art thou, My country? On thy voiceless shore The heroic lay is tuneless now— The heroic bosom beats no more! And must thy lyre, so long divine, Degenerate into ...

— Book of English Verse • Bulchevy

... do myself justice; whether wise or weak in the presence of the only being who had ever mastered my mind, I was determined not "to point a moral and adorn a tale." I had other duties and other purposes before me than to degenerate into a slave of sighs. I was to be no Romeo, bathing my soul in the luxuries of Italian palace-chambers, moonlight speeches, and the song of nightingales. I felt that I was an Englishman, and had ...

— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine -- Volume 54, No. 335, September 1843 • Various

... property or farm on the opposite side of the Almond, above Caerlowrie, was designated by a name, having apparently the Celtic "battle" noun as a prefix in its composition—viz., Cat-elbock. This fine old Celtic name has latterly been changed for the degenerate and unmeaning term Almond-hill.] ...

— Archaeological Essays, Vol. 1 • James Y. Simpson

... its indulgence, would pervade our population so generally that patriotic purpose, the support of principle, the desire for the public good, and solicitude for the nation's welfare would be nearly banished from the activity of our party contests and cause them to degenerate into ignoble, selfish, and disgraceful struggles for the possession of office ...

— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 3 (of 3) of Volume 8: Grover Cleveland, First Term. • Grover Cleveland

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