Retarded vs Degenerate - What's the difference?
retarded | degenerate |
Delayed; delayed in development, hindered; impeded.
* 2004 , Duncan Mackay, The Observer , 8 Aug 2004:
(chiefly, North America) Underdeveloped (of a person's intelligence, abilities etc.).
* 2000 , Kate Connolly, The Guardian , 19 Apr 2000:
(colloquial, derogatory) Stupid, dumb.
* 1988 , Raymond E Feist, Faerie Tale :
(physics) Designating a parameter of an electromagnetic field which is adjusted to account for the finite speed of radiation.
(retard)
(of qualities) Having deteriorated, degraded or fallen from normal, coherent, balanced and desirable to undesirable and typically abnormal.
* Shakespeare
* Jonathan Swift
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-03
, author=
, title=The Smallest Cell
, volume=101, issue=2, page=83
, magazine=
(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.
(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.
One is degenerate, who has fallen from previous stature.
To lose good or desirable qualities.
* 1870 , Shirley Hibberd, Rustic Adornments for Homes of Taste (page 170)
To cause to lose good or desirable qualities.
In physics terms the difference between retarded and degenerate
is that retarded is designating a parameter of an electromagnetic field which is adjusted to account for the finite speed of radiation while degenerate is having the same quantum energy level.As adjectives the difference between retarded and degenerate
is that retarded is delayed; delayed in development, hindered; impeded while degenerate is (of qualities) Having deteriorated, degraded or fallen from normal, coherent, balanced and desirable to undesirable and typically abnormal.As verbs the difference between retarded and degenerate
is that retarded is past tense of retard while degenerate is to lose good or desirable qualities.As a noun degenerate is
one is degenerate, who has fallen from previous stature.retarded
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- HGH, which was originally developed to assist children with retarded growth, is believed to be especially popular with sprinters.
- The European Roma Rights Centre in Budapest, which is representing the children - from the north-eastern city of Ostrava - said that the education ministry and local authorities had for decades "perpetuated a system which routinely brands disproportionate numbers of Gypsies as mentally retarded ".
- Looking at Jack, Gabbie said, "What?" "That's the Troll Bridge." She groaned at the pun. "That's retarded ."
Verb
(head)degenerate
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- faint-hearted and degenerate king
- degenerate from their ancient blood
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.}}
- ''The genetic code is degenerate because a single amino acid can be coded by one of several codons.
Derived terms
* (physics) degenerate matterNoun
(en noun)- You are a degenerate , boy. You're a disgrace to your ancestors.
Verb
(degenerat)- His condition continued to degenerate even after admission to hospital.
- 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.
