degeneration

  1. Noun.  The act or state of growing worse, or the state of having become worse; decline; degradation; debasement; degeneracy; deterioration.
  2. Noun.  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.
  3. Noun.  A gradual deterioration, from natural causes, of any class of animals or plants or any particular organ or organs; hereditary degradation of type.
  4. Noun.  The thing degenerated.

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This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.