1.The act or state of growing worse, or the state of having become worse; decline; degradation; debasement; degeneracy; deterioration. "Our degeneration and apostasy."
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."
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