Entry Word: degeneration

Function: noun

Meaning: 1 a change to a lower state or level <the organizationʼs degeneration from a movement for political reform to just another political party> — see decline 2
2 a gradual sinking and wasting away of mind or body <the troubling degeneration of his memory since he reached middle age> — see decline 1
3 a sinking to a state of low moral standards and behavior <the general degeneration that characterized so many old mining towns, which had only drinking and gambling for entertainment> — see corruption 2