Definition of Degeneration

1. Noun. The process of declining from a higher to a lower level of effective power or vitality or essential quality.

Exact synonyms: Devolution
Generic synonyms: Physical Process, Process
Specialized synonyms: Attack, Obsolescence, Macular Degeneration
Derivative terms: Degenerate
Antonyms: Evolution

2. Noun. The state of being degenerate in mental or moral qualities.
Exact synonyms: Decadence, Decadency, Degeneracy
Generic synonyms: Abasement, Abjection, Degradation
Derivative terms: Decadent, Decadent, Degenerate

3. Noun. Passing from a more complex to a simpler biological form.
Exact synonyms: Retrogression
Generic synonyms: Shift, Transformation, Transmutation
Specialized synonyms: Abiotrophy, Cataplasia

Definition of Degeneration

1. n. The act or state of growing worse, or the state of having become worse; decline; degradation; debasement; degeneracy; deterioration.

Definition of Degeneration

1. Noun. The act or state of growing worse, or the state of having become worse; decline; degradation; debasement; degeneracy; deterioration. ¹

2. Noun. 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. ¹

3. Noun. A gradual deterioration, from natural causes, of any class of animals or plants or any particular organ or organs; hereditary degradation of type. ¹

4. Noun. The thing degenerated. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Degeneration

1. [n -S]

Medical Definition of Degeneration

1. An effect whereby the productivity of a microbial strain used in a commercial process diminishes after repeated transfer from one culture media to another, often caused by genetic mutation. (14 Nov 1997)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Degeneration

degendered
degendering
degenders
degeneracies
degeneracy
degenerate
degenerate code
degenerate configuration
degenerate matter
degenerated
degenerately
degenerateness
degenerates
degenerating
degeneratio
degenerationist
degenerationists
degenerations
degenerative
degenerative arthritis
degenerative chorea
degenerative disc disease
degenerative disorder
degenerative index
degenerative inflammation
degenerative joint disease
degenerative myopia
degenerescence
degenerous

Literary usage of Degeneration

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Science by American Association for the Advancement of Science (1903)
"If the operation of the engine involves sweeping processes of any kind then the degeneration nH2 exceeds the regeneration mW or or, using the value (H1—W) ..."

2. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences by Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (U.S.) (1864)
"The author alludes to cases of fatty degeneration of the kidneys in poisoning by ... Fatty Degeneration of the Active Elements of the Liver, the Kidneys, ..."

3. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease by Philadelphia Neurological Society, American Neurological Association, Chicago Neurological Society, New York Neurological Association (1903)
"Some Observations on the Primary Degeneration of the Motor Tract. ... Toxic Degeneration of the Lower Neurones, Simulating Periphery Neuritis. ..."

4. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease by American Neurological Association, Philadelphia Neurological Society, Chicago Neurological Society, New York Neurological Association, Boston Society of Psychiatry and Neurology (1920)
"Ascending Degeneration.—Now, examining the ascending degeneration from the section of Fig. i onwards, we may note first of all that the leptomeninges remain ..."

5. Monographic Medicine by William Robie Patten Emerson, Guido Guerrini, William Brown, Wendell Christopher Phillips, John Whitridge Williams, John Appleton Swett, Hans Günther, Mario Mariotti, Hugh Grant Rowell (1916)
"Subacute combined cord-degeneration, with report of cases. ... (e) Degeneration of the Peripheral Motor and Sensory Neurons in So-called Neuritis What is ..."

6. Microscopical Morphology of the Animal Body in Health and Disease by Carl Heitzmann (1882)
"All varieties of tissues may c the seat of pigmentary degeneration, ... ie appearance of waxy degeneration varies in different s and organs. ..."

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