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degenerate

[dih-jen-uh-rayt, dih-jen-er-it] / dɪˈdʒɛn əˌreɪt, dɪˈdʒɛn ər ɪt /




Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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“You won’t see Coke or Disney or Nike in my degenerate economy, but you see all the exchanges,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026

The exposed animals developed movement problems and lost dopamine-producing neurons, the same type of brain cells that degenerate in Parkinson's disease.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 28, 2026

I’m kind of glad that I’m not so much of a degenerate anymore.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026

His screen persona has often been the sleaziest of weasels, the connoisseur’s moral degenerate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025

Why, then, did they degenerate outside cells, like fog slipping through fingers?

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

“You don’t need to worry about presenting a certain way or being perceived in a certain way. All the characters in ‘The Pineapple’ are degenerates, and this show invites you to become one as well.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

As the valve tissue degenerates, the thin flaps that should meet neatly can thicken, stretch, or lose their normal shape.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026

By targeting the “worst” degenerates first, they fractured the opposition, and inadvertently created that “First they came for…” poem that we all now memorize in middle school.

From Slate ● Feb. 16, 2025

“When my dad’s wife died a couple of years back, it was those rave degenerates who were there for me,” she says.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2024

“If our search degenerates to that level I’ll be sure to call on you,” I said without looking in his direction.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

By 2024, my hobby was starting to feel like work, and it was only a matter of time before the sport degenerated enough to make it official.

From Slate ● Jun. 14, 2026

Wingtech representatives responded that the Dutch intervention was "incomprehensible" and meant the row "degenerated needlessly".

From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026

In contrast, workers are wingless females with smaller body size and degenerated reproductive tracts, usually without a sperm storage organ.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 22, 2024

The storm prompted the first-ever tropical storm watches and warnings issued in California, but officials now say it had degenerated into a post-tropical low by the time it reached the state.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 22, 2024

Vellya Paapen’s good intentions quickly degenerated into nagging and bickering and a general air of unpleasantness between father and son.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

It had earlier said he could not be transferred elsewhere due to his degenerating condition.

From BBC ● May 31, 2026

Not to get too philosophical, but everything alive is degenerating.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026

“All of this has been degenerating for a long time,” Melgar said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2025

Finally, they showed that after actually damaging olfactory neurons, the ensheathing glia could not remove the degenerating axons in the flies on the high sugar diet because their Draper levels did not increase.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 7, 2023

Whatever may be the cause, it is evident that we as a people are degenerating into a nation of speculators.

From Nature and Culture by Harvey Rice


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