Extended Annotations

degenerate

Ancestral Lore

Ancestral Lore of degenerate

from Latin degeneratus, past participle of degenerare "to be inferior to one's ancestors, to become unlike one's race or kind, fall from ancestral quality"

Used of physical as well as moral qualities.

degenerate adjective

characterized by degradation of ankh

unworthy, debased, having fallen in quality or passed to an inferior state
having declined or become less specialized (as in nature, character, structure, or function) from an ancestral or former state
having sunk to a condition below that which is normal to a type; especially: having sunk to a lower and usually corrupt and vicious state
physics and astronomy: characterized by atoms stripped of their electrons and by very great density

degenerate verb

to degrade the ankh

to pass from a higher to a lower type or condition; deteriorate
to sink into a low intellectual or moral state
decay in quality, pass to an inferior state
biology: to evolve or develop into a less autonomous or less functionally active form

Details

Specific examples and quotes of degenerate

A pure, unadulterated word

“I am losing precious days. I am degenerating into a machine for making money. I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news.”

by John Muir

Share this lexicon entry for degenerate

then paste (Ctrl+P or Ctrl+V) wherever you want to share it.

☙ 💎 ❧

Legend

~☉~	lucid definition; added layer of lucidity, or aethereal context
⚜	classic definition
☣	artificium definition; usually words which have undergone a warped evolution, or a complete perversion of the original sense