I. de ‧ gen ‧ e ‧ rate 1 /dɪˈdʒenəreɪt/ BrE AmE verb [intransitive]
to become worse
degenerate into
The conference degenerated into a complete fiasco.
—degeneration /dɪˌdʒenəˈreɪʃ ə n/ noun [uncountable]
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ deteriorate to become worse:
Air quality is rapidly deteriorating in our cities.
|
Living conditions here have deteriorated in the past few years.
▪ get worse to become worse. Get worse is less formal and more common than deteriorate in everyday English:
My eyesight seems to be getting worse.
|
He’s never been well-behaved, but he’s getting even worse.
▪ go down to become gradually worse – used especially about the standard of something:
The hotel’s gone down since its management changed.
|
Nick’s teachers say that his work has gone down recently.
▪ go downhill to become much worse and be in a very bad condition, especially after a particular time or event:
During the recession the business began to go downhill.
|
Her health went downhill rapidly after Christmas.
▪ decline especially written to become gradually worse – used especially about standards of living, education, health etc:
After the war, the standard of living declined.
|
Over the years, the standard of public transport has declined.
▪ degenerate formal to become worse, or to become something bad instead of something good:
Relations between the two countries have degenerated.
|
The debate degenerated into an argument between the two sides.
▪ escalate to become much worse very quickly – used especially about fighting, violence, or a bad situation:
Further violence could escalate into a full-scale armed conflict.
|
The political crisis escalated.
▪ spiral out of control to become worse in a way that cannot be controlled and is extremely serious and worrying:
Police say that the violence has spiralled out of control.
|
Scientists are worried that global warming could soon spiral out of control.
|
Costs have been spiralling out of control.
II. de ‧ gen ‧ e ‧ rate 2 /dɪˈdʒenərət, dɪˈdʒenərɪt/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Language: Latin ; Origin: degeneratus , from genus 'type, kind, race' ]
formal morally unacceptable:
The painting was condemned as ‘degenerate’.
III. degenerate 3 BrE AmE noun [countable]
someone whose behaviour is considered to be morally unacceptable