Degenerate

(a.) Having become worse than one's kind, or one's former state; having declined in worth; having lost in goodness; deteriorated; degraded; unworthy; base; low.

(v. i.) To be or grow worse than one's kind, or than one was originally; hence, to be inferior; to grow poorer, meaner, or more vicious; to decline in good qualities; to deteriorate.

(v. i.) To fall off from the normal quality or the healthy structure of its kind; to become of a lower type.

埃尔罗伊校对

• Old New York scrupulously observed the etiquette of hospitality, and no discussion with a guest was ever allowed to degenerate into a disagreement. 伊迪丝·华顿. 纯真年代.
• And a State may get on without cobblers; but when the guardians degenerate into boon companions, then the ruin is complete. 柏拉图. 理想国.
• Think on the freedom of England, degenerate Prince! 沃尔特·司各特. 艾凡赫.
• Then, under the influence either of poverty or of wealth, workmen and their work are equally liable to degenerate? 柏拉图. 理想国.
• Not to appear to disgrace his family, to degenerate from the popular qualities, or lose the influence of the Pemberley House, is a powerful motive. 简·奥斯汀. 傲慢与偏见.
• But education is not a weed that will grow lustily in any soil, it is a necessary and delicate crop that may easily wilt and degenerate. 赫伯特·乔治·威尔斯. 世界史纲.
• The deep bell of St Paul's was striking nine as he passed under the shadow of Temple Bar, headless and forlorn in these degenerate days. 查尔斯·狄更斯. 小杜丽.
• The poorness of the pasture had, in his opinion, occasioned the degradation of their cattle, which degenerated sensibly from me generation to another. 亚当·斯密. 国富论.
• In some it is more, in others it is less worn, clipt, and otherwise degenerated from that standard. 亚当·斯密. 国富论.
• And truly is he so spoken of, said the Grand Master; in our valour only we are not degenerated from our predecessors, the heroes of the Cross. 沃尔特·司各特. 艾凡赫.
• But Genoa's greatness has degenerated into an unostentatious commerce in velvets and silver filagree-work. 马克·吐温. 傻子出国记.
• Do these miserable animals presume to think, that I am so degenerated as to defend my veracity? 乔纳森·斯威夫特. 格列佛游记.
• Such shows were the best possible form of advertising, but in time they degenerated into absurd performances. 鲁伯特·萨金特·荷兰. 历史性发明.
• Their cultivation degenerated more and more into a growing of potatoes and a feeding of pigs. 赫伯特·乔治·威尔斯. 世界史纲.
• My life was like that of an animal, and my mind was in danger of degenerating into that which informs brute nature. 玛丽·雪莱. 最后一个人.
• Such a State is hardly to be realized in this world and quickly degenerates. 柏拉图. 理想国.
• The empiric easily degenerates into the quack. 约翰·杜威. 民主与教育.
• All that surrounds him hastens to decay; all declines and degenerates under his sceptre. 夏洛蒂·勃朗特. 雪莉.

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