degeneration

Etymology

From French dégénération, from Latin dēgenerātiō.

noun

1. (uncountable, countable) The process or state of growing worse, or the state of having become worse.
   The modern cry of "more liberty and less creed" is a degeneration from a vertebrate to a jellyfish. 1913, B. H. Carrol, An Interpretation of the English Bible
   Hence, regional soil degenerations and podsolization was probably an important factor contributing to the retrogressive change in the forest composition at the end of the mesocratic phase.. 1987, Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae, page 10
2. (uncountable) That condition of a tissue or an organ in which its vitality has become either diminished or perverted; a substitution of a lower for a higher form of structure.
   fatty degeneration of the liver
3. (uncountable) Gradual deterioration, from natural causes, of any class of animals or plants or any particular organ or organs; hereditary degradation of type.
4. (countable) A thing that has degenerated.