Hypertext Webster Gateway: "degeneracy"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Degeneracy \De*gen"er*a*cy\, n. [From {Degenerate}, a.]
1. The act of becoming degenerate; a growing worse.
Willful degeneracy from goodness. --Tillotson.
2. The state of having become degenerate; decline in good
qualities; deterioration; meanness.
Degeneracy of spirit in a state of slavery.
--Addison.
To recover mankind out of their universal corruption
and degeneracy. --S. Clarke.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
degeneracy
n 1: the state of being degenerate in mental or moral qualities
[syn: {degeneration}, {decadence}, {decadency}]
2: moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles:
"the luxury and corruption among the upper classes";
"moral degeneracy followed intellectual degeneration";
"its brothels; its opium parlors; its depravity" [syn: {corruption},
{depravity}]
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