degenerateverb [ I ]
uk/dɪˈdʒen.ə.reɪt/us/dɪˈdʒen.ə.reɪt/to become worse in quality:
Educational standards are degenerating year by year because of a lack of funds.
What was intended as a peaceful demonstration rapidly degenerated into violence.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Deteriorating and making worse
- a step backwards idiom
- a turn of the screw idiom
- add
- afford
- aggravate
- backslide
- compound
- decline
- degrade
- dog
- downgrade
- downhill
- exacerbate
- fan the flames idiom
- retrograde
- retrogress
- run yourself down
- seed
- slip
- slippery slope
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degenerateadjective
uk/dɪˈdʒen.ə.rət/us/dɪˈdʒen.ə.rət/having low standards of behaviour:
a degenerate young man
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Morally wrong and evil
- abhorrent
- amoral
- anomie
- arch-villain
- be rotten to the core idiom
- canker
- darkly
- evildoer
- go to the bad idiom
- godless
- hanky-panky
- heinous
- immoral
- impure
- seamy
- seedy
- shocking
- shockingly
- sinful
- wickedness
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degeneratenoun [ C ]
uk/dɪˈdʒen.ə.rət/us/dɪˈdʒen.ə.rət/formal disapprovingsomeone with low standards of behaviour:
They're just moral degenerates with no sense of decency.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Morally wrong and evil
- abhorrent
- amoral
- anomie
- arch-villain
- be rotten to the core idiom
- canker
- darkly
- evildoer
- go to the bad idiom
- godless
- hanky-panky
- heinous
- immoral
- impure
- seamy
- seedy
- shocking
- shockingly
- sinful
- wickedness
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