2 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Degeneration \De*gen`er*a"tion\, n. [Cf. F.
d['e]g['e]n['e]ration.]
1. The act or state of growing worse, or the state of having
become worse; decline degradation; debasement;
degeneracy; deterioration.
Our degeneration and apostasy. --Bates.
2. (Physiol.) That condition of a tissue or an organ in which
its vitality has become either diminished or perverted; a
substitution of a lower for a higher form of structure;
as fatty degeneration of the liver.
3. (Biol.) A gradual deterioration, from natural causes, of
any class of animals or plants or any particular organ or
organs; hereditary degradation of type
4. The thing degenerated. [R.]
Cockle, aracus, . . . and other degenerations. --Sir
T. Browne.
{Amyloid degeneration}, {Caseous degeneration}, etc See
under {Amyloid}, {Caseous}, etc
From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]:
degeneration
n 1: the process of declining from a higher to a lower level of
effective power or vitality or essential quality
2: the state of being degenerate in mental or moral qualities
[syn: {degeneracy}]
3: passing from a more complex to a simpler biological form
[syn: {retrogression}]
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