DEGENERATION
Dictionary entry overview: What does degeneration mean?
• DEGENERATION (noun)
The noun DEGENERATION has 3 senses:
1. the process of declining from a higher to a lower level of effective power or vitality or essential quality
2. the state of being degenerate in mental or moral qualities
3. passing from a more complex to a simpler biological form
Familiarity information: DEGENERATION used as a noun is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
• DEGENERATION (noun)
Meaning:
The process of declining from a higher to a lower level of effective power or vitality or essential quality
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural processes
Synonyms:
degeneration; devolution
Hypernyms ("degeneration" is a kind of...):
physical process; process (a sustained phenomenon or one marked by gradual changes through a series of states)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "degeneration"):
attack (the onset of a corrosive or destructive process (as by a chemical agent))
macular degeneration (degeneration of the cells of the macula lutea which results in blurred vision and can cause blindness; usually age-related)
obsolescence (the process of becoming obsolete; falling into disuse or becoming out of date)
Meaning:
The state of being degenerate in mental or moral qualities
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Synonyms:
decadence; decadency; degeneracy; degeneration
Hypernyms ("degeneration" is a kind of...):
abasement; abjection; degradation (a low or downcast state)
Meaning:
Passing from a more complex to a simpler biological form
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural events
Synonyms:
retrogression; degeneration
Hypernyms ("degeneration" is a kind of...):
shift; transformation; transmutation (a qualitative change)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "degeneration"):
abiotrophy (a loss of vitality and a degeneration of cells and tissues not due to any apparent injury)
cataplasia ((biology) degenerative reversion of cells or tissue to a less differentiated or more primitive form)
