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]