Degeneration1. (n.) The act or state of growing worse, or the state of having become worse; decline; degradation; debasement; degeneracy; deterioration.
2. (n.) 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.
3. (n.) A gradual deterioration, from natural causes, of any class of animals or plants or any particular organ or organs; hereditary degradation of type.
4. (n.) The thing degenerated.
Thesaurus Entries
abandon, abandonment, abjection, about-face, accommodation, adaptation, adjustment, alteration, amelioration, apostasy, atrophy, betterment, break, change, change of heart, changeableness, closed loop, closed sequence, comedown, constructive change, continuity, conversion, corruptedness, corruption, corruptness, current-control circuit, debasement, decadence, decadency, declension, declination, decline, defection, deformation, degeneracy, degenerateness, degenerative change, degradation, demoralization, demotion, depravation, depravedness, depravity, depreciation, derogation, descent, deterioration, deviation, devolution, difference, discontinuity, dissoluteness, divergence, diversification, diversion, diversity, downfall, downgrade, downtrend, downturn, downward mobility, downward trend, drop, dying, ebb, effeteness, fading, failing, failure, failure of nerve, fall, falling-off, feedback, fitting, flip-flop, flip-flop circuit, gradual change, improvement, involution, lapse, loss of tone, melioration, mitigation, modification, modulation, moral pollution, moral turpitude, overthrow, perversion, positive feedback, process loop, profligacy, qualification, quality loop, radical change, re-creation, realignment, redesign, reform, reformation, regression, remaking, renewal, reprobacy, reshaping, restructuring, retrocession, retrogradation, retrogression, reversal, reversed feedback, revival, revivification, revolution, rottenness, shift, slippage, slump, sudden change, switch, total change, transition, turn, turnabout, turpitude, upheaval, variation, variety, violent change, wane, worsening