What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Disintegrate vs Degenerate - What's the difference?

disintegrate | degenerate |

In transitive terms the difference between disintegrate and degenerate

is that disintegrate is to undo the integrity of, break into parts while degenerate is to cause to lose good or desirable qualities.

In intransitive terms the difference between disintegrate and degenerate

is that disintegrate is to fall apart, break up into parts while degenerate is to lose good or desirable qualities.

As an adjective degenerate is

(of qualities) Having deteriorated, degraded or fallen from normal, coherent, balanced and desirable to undesirable and typically abnormal.

As a noun degenerate is

one is degenerate, who has fallen from previous stature.

disintegrate

English

Verb

(disintegrat)
  • To undo the integrity of, break into parts.
  • * Kirwan
  • Marlites are not disintegrated by exposure to the atmosphere, at least in six years.
  • To fall apart, break up into parts.
  • Synonyms

    * (qualifier) dismember, dissolve * compost, decay, dissolve

    Antonyms

    * integrate

    Derived terms

    * disintegration * disintegrative * disintegrator

    degenerate

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (of qualities) Having deteriorated, degraded or fallen from normal, coherent, balanced and desirable to undesirable and typically abnormal.
  • * Shakespeare
  • faint-hearted and degenerate king
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • degenerate from their ancient blood
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-03
  • , author= , title=The Smallest Cell , volume=101, issue=2, page=83 , magazine= citation , passage=It is likely that the long evolutionary trajectory of Mycoplasma went from a reductive autotroph to oxidative heterotroph to a cell-wall–defective degenerate parasite. This evolutionary trajectory assumes the simplicity to complexity route of biogenesis, a point of view that is not universally accepted.}}
  • (of a human or system) Having lost good or desirable qualities.
  • (of an encoding or function) Having multiple domain elements correspond to one element of the range.
  • ''The genetic code is degenerate because a single amino acid can be coded by one of several codons.
  • (mathematics) A degenerate case is a limiting case in which a class of object changes its nature so as to belong to another, usually simpler, class.
  • (physics) Having the same quantum energy level.
  • Derived terms

    * (physics) degenerate matter

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One is degenerate, who has fallen from previous stature.
  • You are a degenerate , boy. You're a disgrace to your ancestors.

    Verb

    (degenerat)
  • To lose good or desirable qualities.
  • His condition continued to degenerate even after admission to hospital.
  • * 1870 , Shirley Hibberd, Rustic Adornments for Homes of Taste (page 170)
  • Another bird quickly learned to imitate the song of a canary that was mated with it, but as the parrakeet improved in the performance the canary degenerated , and came at last to mingle the other bird's harsh chitterings with its own proper music.
  • To cause to lose good or desirable qualities.
  • Derived terms

    * degeneration