DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Deg·ra·da·tion n.
 1. The act of reducing in rank, character, or reputation, or of abasing; a lowering from one's standing or rank in office or society; diminution; as, the degradation of a peer, a knight, a general, or a bishop.
    He saw many removes and degradations in all the other offices of which he had been possessed.   --Clarendon.
 2. The state of being reduced in rank, character, or reputation; baseness; moral, physical, or intellectual degeneracy; disgrace; abasement; debasement.
    The . . . degradation of a needy man of letters.   --Macaulay.
    Deplorable is the degradation of our nature.   --South.
    Moments there frequently must be, when a sinner is sensible of the degradation of his state.   --Blair.
 3. Diminution or reduction of strength, efficacy, or value; degeneration; deterioration.
    The development and degradation of the alphabetic forms can be traced.   --I. Taylor (The Alphabet).
 4. Geol. A gradual wearing down or wasting, as of rocks and banks, by the action of water, frost etc.
 5. Biol. The state or condition of a species or group which exhibits degraded forms; degeneration.
    The degradation of the species man is observed in some of its varieties.   --Dana.
 6. Physiol. Arrest of development, or degeneration of any organ, or of the body as a whole.
 Degradation of energy, or Dissipation of energy Physics, the transformation of energy into some form in which it is less available for doing work.
 Syn: -- Abasement; debasement; reduction; decline.
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 Dis·si·pa·tion n.
 1. The act of dissipating or dispersing; a state of dispersion or separation; dispersion; waste.
    Without loss or dissipation of the matter.   --Bacon.
    The famous dissipation of mankind.   --Sir M. Hale.
 2. A dissolute course of life, in which health, money, etc., are squandered in pursuit of pleasure; profuseness in vicious indulgence, as late hours, riotous living, etc.; dissoluteness.
    To reclaim the spendthrift from his dissipation and extravagance.   --P. Henry.
 3. A trifle which wastes time or distracts attention.
    Prevented from finishing them [the letters] a thousand avocations and dissipations.   --Swift.
 Dissipation of energy. Same as Degradation of energy, under Degradation.
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