Meaning of DEGENERATE
| Pronunciation: | | [n]di'jenu`rit, [v]di'jenu`reyt, 'jenehrut
|
 WordNet Dictionary |
| |
| | Definition: | |
- [n] a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior
- [adj] unrestrained by convention or morality; "Congreve draws a debauched aristocratic society"; "deplorably dissipated and degraded"; "riotous living"; "fast women"
- [v] grow worse; "Her condition deteriorated"
|
| |
| | Websites: | | |
| |
| | Synonyms: | | debauched, degraded, deteriorate, deviant, deviate, dissipated, dissolute, drop, fast, immoral, libertine, pervert, profligate, riotous |
| |
| | Antonyms: | | convalesce, recover, recuperate | | |
| | See Also: | | bugger, child molester, decline, fade, fatigue, fetishist, jade, languish, lecher, masochist, miscreant, nympho, nymphomaniac, paederast, paedophile, pall, pederast, pedophile, reprobate, rot, sadist, sadomasochist, satyr, sod, sodomist, sodomite, tire, waste, weary, worsen | |
| Webster's 1913 Dictionary |
| |
| | Definition: | |
\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.
Faint-hearted and degenerate king. --Shak.
A degenerate and degraded state. --Milton.
Degenerate from their ancient blood. --Swift.
These degenerate days. --Pope.
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.
\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.
When wit transgresseth decency, it degenerates into
insolence and impiety. --Tillotson.
2. (Biol.) To fall off from the normal quality or the healthy
structure of its kind; to become of a lower type.
|
| |
| Thesaurus Terms |
| |
| | Related Terms: | | 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 |
| |
|
|
|