Diminish vs Degenerate - What's the difference?

In lang=en terms the difference between diminish and degenerate

is that diminish is to disappear gradually while degenerate is to cause to lose good or desirable qualities.

As verbs the difference between diminish and degenerate

is that diminish is to make smaller 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.

diminish

English

Verb

(es)

To make smaller.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-12-14

, author=Simon Jenkins, authorlink=Simon Jenkins, volume=188, issue=2, page=23 , date=2012-12-21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys , passage=The threat of terrorism to the British lies in the overreaction to it of British governments. Each one in turn clicks up the ratchet of surveillance, intrusion and security. Each one diminishes liberty.}}

To become smaller.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Old soldiers? , passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine.

To lessen the authority or dignity of; to put down; to degrade; to abase; to weaken.

* Robynson (More's Utopia)

This doth nothing diminish their opinion.

* Bible, Ezekiel xxix. 15

I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.

* Milton

O thou at whose sight all the stars / Hide their diminished heads.

To taper.

To disappear gradually.

To take away; to subtract.

* Bible, Deuteronomy iv. 2

Neither shall ye diminish aught from it.

(music) To reduce a perfect or minor interval by a semitone.

Derived terms

* law of diminishing returns

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

External links

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