noun ·5 syllables ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The process or state of growing worse, or the state of having become worse. countable, uncountable, usually

   "The modern cry of "more liberty and less creed" is a degeneration from a vertebrate to a jellyfish."

2. 2
   passing from a more complex to a simpler biological form wordnet
3. 3
   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. uncountable, usually

   "fatty degeneration of the liver"

4. 4
   the process of declining from a higher to a lower level of effective power or vitality or essential quality wordnet
5. 5
   Gradual deterioration, from natural causes, of any class of animals or plants or any particular organ or organs; hereditary degradation of type. uncountable, usually

Show 2 more definitions

6. 6
   the state of being degenerate in mental or moral qualities wordnet
7. 7
   A thing that has degenerated. countable, usually

   "cockle, aracus, […] and other degenerations"

Synonyms

All synonyms

decadencedeclinedegeneracydegeneracyabandonabandonment

Example

More examples

"Age-related macular degeneration can cause blindness."

Etymology

From French dégénération, from Latin dēgenerātiō.

Related phrases

Wallerian degenerationhepatolenticular degenerationhyaline degenerationmacular degeneration

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.