01 n. The act or state of growing worse, or the state of having become worse; decline; degradation; debasement; degeneracy; deterioration.
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1.
The act or state of growing worse, or the state of having become worse; decline; degradation; debasement; degeneracy; deterioration.“Our degeneration and apostasy.” — Bates.
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2.
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.(Physiol.)
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3.
A gradual deterioration, from natural causes, of any class of animals or plants or any particular organ or organs; hereditary degradation of type.(Biol.)
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4.
The thing degenerated.[R.]“Cockle, aracus, . . . and other degenerations.” — Sir T. Browne.