degenerate

1. 1.

   grow worse

   “Her condition deteriorated”

   “Conditions in the slums degenerated”

   “The discussion devolved into a shouting match”

   Synonymsdevolvedeterioratedrop

   Broaderworsen

   Narrowertirelanguishwaste

1. 1.

   unrestrained by convention or morality

   “Congreve draws a debauched aristocratic society”

   “deplorably dissipated and degraded”

   “riotous living”

   “fast women”

   Synonymsdebaucheddegradeddissipateddissolutelibertineprofligateriotousfast

   Similarimmoral

Other forms of degenerate

plural

degenerates·

past tense

degenerated·

present participle

degenerating·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about degenerate

What does degenerate mean?

degenerate means "a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in degenerate?

degenerate has 4 syllables: de-gen-e-rate. The stress falls on "gen". In IPA it is /dɪˈdʒɛnɚət/.

What is another word for degenerate?

Close synonyms include pervert, deviant, deviate, devolve, deteriorate. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is degenerate a common word?

degenerate is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.