Get Affordable VMs - excellent virtual server hosting


browse words by letter
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
degenerate

more about degenerate

degenerate

 

  4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Degenerate  \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 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Degenerate  \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. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  degenerate 
  adj  :  unrestrained  by  convention  or  morality;  "Congreve  draws  a 
  debauched  aristocratic  society";  "deplorably  dissipated 
  and  degraded";  "riotous  living";  "fast  women"  [syn:  {debauched}, 
  {degraded},  {dissipated},  {dissolute},  {libertine},  {profligate}, 
  {riotous},  {fast}] 
  n  :  a  person  whose  behavior  deviates  from  what  is  acceptable 
  especially  in  sexual  behavior  [syn:  {pervert},  {deviant}, 
  {deviate}] 
  v  1:  become  worse  or  disintegrate;  "His  mind  deteriorated"  [syn: 
  {deteriorate}] 
  2:  grow  worse;  "Her  condition  deteriorated"  [syn:  {deteriorate}, 
  {drop}]  [ant:  {recuperate}] 
 
  From  THE  DEVIL'S  DICTIONARY  ((C)1911  Released  April  15  1993)  [devils]: 
 
  DEGENERATE,  adj  Less  conspicuously  admirable  than  one's  ancestors. 
  The  contemporaries  of  Homer  were  striking  examples  of  degeneracy;  it 
  required  ten  of  them  to  raise  a  rock  or  a  riot  that  one  of  the  heroes 
  of  the  Trojan  war  could  have  raised  with  ease.  Homer  never  tires  of 
  sneering  at  "men  who  live  in  these  degenerate  days,"  which  is  perhaps 
  why  they  suffered  him  to  beg  his  bread  --  a  marked  instance  of 
  returning  good  for  evil,  by  the  way  for  if  they  had  forbidden  him  he 
  would  certainly  have  starved.




more about degenerate