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   degenerate

   adjective

   • 1. having lost the physical, mental, or moral qualities considered normal and desirable; showing evidence of decline: "a degenerate form of a higher civilization" Similar debaseddegradedcorruptcorruptedvitiatedbastardimpureOpposite pure
   • 2. lacking some usual or expected property or quality. technical Similar corruptdecadentdissolutedissipateddebauchedrakishreprobateprofligatedepravedperverteddespicablebasevice-riddenwickedsinfulungodlyimmoralunprincipledamoraldishonourabledisreputableunsavourysordidlowmeanignoblelewdlecherouslasciviouslicentiouslibidinousloosepromiscuouswantonlibertineintemperateinformal:pervyOpposite moral
   • ▪ (of a type of equation, curve, etc.) equivalent to a simpler type, especially when a variable or parameter is set to zero.
   • ▪ (of an energy level) corresponding to more than one quantum state.
   • ▪ (of matter) at densities so high that gravitational contraction is counteracted, either by the Pauli exclusion principle or by an analogous quantum effect between closely packed neutrons.
   • ▪ having reverted to a simpler form as a result of losing a complex or adaptive structure present in the ancestral form: "degenerate offshoots from the main line of vertebrate progress"

   noun

   • 1. an immoral or corrupt person: "get out of my house, you degenerate!"

   verb

   • 1. decline or deteriorate physically, mentally, or morally: "the quality of life had degenerated" Similar deterioratedeclinesinkslipslideworsenget/grow worsetake a turn for the worselapsefailfall offslumpgo downhillregressretrogressdecayrotgo to rack and ruininformal:go to potgo to the dogshit the skidsgo down the tubesgo down the toiletgo to the packrare:retrogradedevolvewaste awaywasteatrophyweakenbecome debilitatedOpposite improve

   Word Origin late 15th century: from Latin degeneratus ‘no longer of its kind’, from the verb degenerare, from degener ‘debased’, from de- ‘away from’ + genus, gener- ‘race, kind’.

   Derivatives

   • 1. degenerately adverb

   Scrabble Points: 12

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