de·gen·er·a·tion /dɪˌʤɛnəˈreʃən, ˌdi-/
退化,惡化,墮落
de·gen·er·a·tion /dɪˌʤɛnəˈreʃən, ˌdɪ-/ 名詞
變性,退化,變質
De·gen·er·a·tion n.
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.
2. Physiol. 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. Biol. A gradual deterioration, from natural causes, of any class of animals or plants or any particular organ or organs; hereditary degradation of type.
4. The thing degenerated. [R.]
Cockle, aracus, . . . and other degenerations. --Sir T. Browne.
Amyloid degeneration, Caseous degeneration, etc. See under Amyloid, Caseous, etc.
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degeneration
n 1: the process of declining from a higher to a lower level of
effective power or vitality or essential quality [syn: devolution]
[ant: development]
2: the state of being degenerate in mental or moral qualities
[syn: degeneracy, decadence, decadency]
3: passing from a more complex to a simpler biological form
[syn: retrogression]