Library / English Dictionary

DEGENERATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior

Synonyms:

degenerate; deviant; deviate; pervert

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("degenerate" is a kind of...):

miscreant; reprobate (a person without moral scruples)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "degenerate"):

fetishist (one who engages in fetishism (especially of a sexual nature))

masochist (someone who obtains pleasure from receiving punishment)

nympho; nymphomaniac (a woman with abnormal sexual desires)

child molester; paederast; pederast (a man who has sex (usually sodomy) with a boy as the passive partner)

paedophile; pedophile (an adult who is sexually attracted to children)

sadist (someone who obtains pleasure from inflicting pain on others)

sadomasochist (someone who enjoys both sadism and masochism)

lech; lecher; letch; satyr (man with strong sexual desires)

bugger; sod; sodomist; sodomite (someone who engages in anal copulation (especially a male who engages in anal copulation with another male))

Derivation:

degenerate (unrestrained by convention or morality)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Unrestrained by convention or morality

Example:

fast women

Synonyms:

debauched; degenerate; degraded; dissipated; dissolute; fast; libertine; profligate; riotous

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

immoral (deliberately violating accepted principles of right and wrong)

Derivation:

degenerate (a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Grow worse

Example:

The discussion devolved into a shouting match

Synonyms:

degenerate; deteriorate; devolve; drop

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "degenerate" is one way to...):

decline; worsen (grow worse)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "degenerate"):

fatigue; jade; pall; tire; weary (lose interest or become bored with something or somebody)

fade; languish (become feeble)

rot; waste (become physically weaker)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

degeneration (the process of declining from a higher to a lower level of effective power or vitality or essential quality)

degeneration (the state of being degenerate in mental or moral qualities)

degenerative ((of illness) marked by gradual deterioration of organs and cells along with loss of function)

Credits

 Context examples: 

When fate wronged me, I had not the wisdom to remain cool: I turned desperate; then I degenerated.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

TNT exploits the presence of degenerating and necrotic cells within tumors by utilizing MOAbs directed against universal, intracellular nucleosomal determinants consisting of histone H1 and DNA.

(Iodine I 131 Monoclonal Antibody TNT-1/B, NCI Thesaurus)

As to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to young ladies from boarding-schools.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The endometrial layer that develops around the embryo then slowly regresses until the fourth month of pregnancy when the membrane presses against the decidua parietalis and begins to rapidly degenerate.

(Decidua Capsularis, NCI Thesaurus)

One might have thought already that God’s curse hung heavy over a degenerate world, for there was an awesome hush and a feeling of vague expectancy in the sultry and stagnant air.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Surgery performed for the purpose of repairing a degenerated, calcified, malformed, dysfunctional, etc. heart valve.

(Heart Valve Repair, NCI Thesaurus)

Surgical reconstruction or replacement of all or part of a malformed, diseased, degenerated, or otherwise damaged joint.

(Arthroplasty, NCI Thesaurus)

Surgery performed with the purpose of replacing a degenerated, calcified, malformed, dysfunctional, etc. mitral valve with bioprosthetic, homograft or autograft valve.

(Mitral Valve Replacement, NCI Thesaurus)

Surgery performed with the purpose of replacing a degenerated, calcified, malformed, dysfunctional, etc. aortic valve with a bioprosthetic, homograft, or autograft valve.

(Aortic Valve Replacement, NCI Thesaurus)

My uncle, who was not born to be second to any one, retired instantly to St. Albans, and announced that he would make it the centre of fashion and of society, instead of degenerate London.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)