Definition of degeneration
1 : degenerate (see 1degenerate) condition
2 : a lowering of effective power, vitality, or essential quality to an enfeebled and worsened kind or state the country's degeneration into chaos … enacts the degeneration of politics into televisual entertainment … — Linda Holt
3 : intellectual, moral, or artistic decline Many of her stories show the degeneration of a principled person into a lethal one … — Susannah Clapp … argue that the tradition has radically devolved, and that books like “The Kiss,” by Kathryn Harrison, represent the degeneration of a once ennobled form. — Deborah E. McDowell
4 biology a : progressive deterioration of physical characters from a level representing the norm of earlier generations or formsb : deterioration of a tissue or an organ in which its function is diminished or its structure is impaired a degeneration of cartilage
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Examples of degeneration in a Sentence
the organization's degeneration from a movement for political reform to just another political party
the troubling degeneration of his memory since he reached middle age
Origin and Etymology of degeneration
see 1degenerate
First Known Use: 15th century
Synonym Discussion of degeneration
Medical Dictionary
degeneration
playMedical Definition of degeneration
1: intellectual or moral decline tending toward dissolution of character or integrity : a progressive worsening of personal adjustment
2a: progressive deterioration of physical characters from a level representing the norm of earlier generations or forms : regression of the morphology of a group or kind of organism toward a simpler less highly organized state parasitism leads to degenerationb: deterioration of a tissue or an organ in which its vitality is diminished or its structure impaired; especially : deterioration in which specialized cells are replaced by less specialized cells (as in fibrosis or in malignancies) or in which cells are functionally impaired (as by deposition of abnormal matter in the tissue)
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See words that rhyme with degeneration Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for degeneration Spanish Central: Translation of degeneration Nglish: Translation of degeneration for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of degeneration for Arabic speakers
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