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degeneration - 5 dictionary results

de⋅gen⋅er⋅a⋅tion

  [di-jen-uh-rey-shuhn]
Use degeneration in a Sentence
–noun
1. the process of degenerating.
2. the condition or state of being degenerate.
3. Pathology.
a. a process by which a tissue deteriorates, loses functional activity, and may become converted into or replaced by other kinds of tissue.
b. the condition produced by such a process.
Origin:
1475–85; < LL dēgenerātiōn- (s. of dēgenerātiō). See de-, generation
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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de·gen·er·a·tion   (dĭ-jěn'ə-rā'shən)   
n.  
  1. The process of degenerating.
  2. The state of being degenerate.
  3. Medicine Gradual deterioration of specific tissues, cells, or organs with corresponding impairment or loss of function, caused by injury, disease, or aging.
  4. Biology The evolutionary decline or loss of a function, characteristic, or structure in an organism or a species.
  5. Electronics Loss of or gain in power in an amplifier caused by unintentional negative feedback.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Degeneration

De*gen`er*a"tion\, n. [Cf. F. d['e]g['e]n['e]ration.]

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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Main Entry: de·gen·er·a·tion
Pronunciation: di-"jen-&-'rA-sh&n, "dE-
Function: noun
1 : intellectual or moraldecline tending toward dissolution of character or integrity : a progressive worsening of personal adjustment
2 a : progressive deterioration of physical characters from alevel representing the norm of earlier generations or forms : regression of the morphology of a group or kind of organism toward a simpler less highly organized state degeneration> b : deterioration of a tissue or an organ in which its vitality is diminished or its structure impaired; especially : deterioration in whichspecialized cells are replaced by less specialized cells (as in fibrosis or in malignancies) or in which cells are functionally impaired (as by deposition of abnormal matter in the tissue)
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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degeneration de·gen·er·a·tion (dĭ-jěn'ə-rā'shən)
n.

  1. The gradual deterioration of specific tissues, cells, or organs with impairment or loss of function, caused by injury, disease, or aging.
  2. The evolutionary decline or loss of a function, characteristic, or structure in an organism or a species.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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