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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Faint-hearted and degenerate king. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

A degenerate and degraded state. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Degenerate from their ancient blood. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

These degenerate days. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

When wit transgresseth decency, it degenerates into insolence and impiety. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Biol.) To fall off from the normal quality or the healthy structure of its kind; to become of a lower type. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a person who has declined from a high standard, especially a sexual deviate; -- usually used disparagingly or opprobriously of persons whose sexual behavior does not conform to the norms of accepted morals. [ PJC ]

2. a person or thing that has fallen from a higher to a lower state, or reverted to an earlier type or stage of development or culture. RHUD [ PJC ]

adv. In a degenerate manner; unworthily. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Degeneracy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. dégénération. ] 1. The act or state of growing worse, or the state of having become worse; decline; degradation; debasement; degeneracy; deterioration. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our degeneration and apostasy. Bates. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The thing degenerated. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Cockle, aracus, . . . and other degenerations. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

Amyloid degeneration,
Caseous degeneration, etc. See under Amyloid, Caseous, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Biol.) A believer in the theory of degeneration, or hereditary degradation of type; as, the degenerationists hold that savagery is the result of degeneration from a superior state. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Undergoing or producing degeneration; tending to degenerate. [ 1913 Webster ]