degenerate
verb/dɪˈdʒenəreɪt/
/dɪˈdʒenəreɪt/
[intransitive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they degenerate | /dɪˈdʒenəreɪt/ /dɪˈdʒenəreɪt/ |
| he / she / it degenerates | /dɪˈdʒenəreɪts/ /dɪˈdʒenəreɪts/ |
| past simple degenerated | /dɪˈdʒenəreɪtɪd/ /dɪˈdʒenəreɪtɪd/ |
| past participle degenerated | /dɪˈdʒenəreɪtɪd/ /dɪˈdʒenəreɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form degenerating | /dɪˈdʒenəreɪtɪŋ/ /dɪˈdʒenəreɪtɪŋ/ |
- to become worse, for example by becoming lower in quality or weaker synonym deteriorate
- Her health degenerated quickly.
- degenerate into something The march degenerated into a riot.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- quickly
- rapidly
- easily
- …
- into
Word Originlate 15th cent.: from Latin degeneratus ‘no longer of its kind’, from the verb degenerare, from degener ‘debased’, from de- ‘away from’ + genus, gener- ‘race, kind’.
Check pronunciation:
degenerate