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Degenerate vs Regress - What's the difference?

degenerate | regress |

In lang=en terms the difference between degenerate and regress

is that degenerate is to cause to lose good or desirable qualities while regress is to move backwards to an earlier stage; to devolve.

As nouns the difference between degenerate and regress

is that degenerate is one is degenerate, who has fallen from previous stature while regress is the act of passing back; passage back; return; retrogression.

As verbs the difference between degenerate and regress

is that degenerate is to lose good or desirable qualities while regress is to move backwards to an earlier stage; to devolve.

As an adjective degenerate

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

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

    regress

    English

    Noun

    (-)
  • The act of passing back; passage back; return; retrogression.
  • * Frederic Harrison
  • Its bearing on the progress or regress of man is not an inconsiderable question.
  • The power or liberty of passing back.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Thou shalt have egress and regress;

    Derived terms

    * infinite regress

    Verb

    (es)
  • To move backwards to an earlier stage; to devolve.
  • (statistics) To perform a regression on an explanatory variable.
  • When we regress Y on X, we use the values of variable X to predict those Y.

    Synonyms

    * backslide

    Antonyms

    * proceed * progress