different between degenerate vs paltry

English

Etymology

From Latin d?gener?tus, perfect passive participle of d?gener? (“to be inferior to one's ancestors, to become unlike one's race or kind, fall from ancestral quality”), from d?gener (“inferior to one’s predecessors”), from d?- (“off, away from”) +? genus (“birth, descent”); see genus.

Analyzable as de- +? generate

Pronunciation

• (adjective, noun) IPA^(key): /d??d??n???t/
• (verb) IPA^(key): /d??d??n??e?t/

Adjective

degenerate (comparative more degenerate, superlative most degenerate)

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

   • faint-hearted and degenerate king
2. (of a human or system) Having lost good or desirable qualities.
   • 1726, Jonathan Swift, Verses on St. Patrick's Well

     As you grew more degenerate and base, I sent you millions of the croaking race

3. (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.

4. (mathematics, of an eigenvalue) Having multiple different (linearly independent) eigenvectors.
5. (physics) Having the same quantum energy level.

Derived terms

• (physics) degenerate matter

Translations

Noun

degenerate (plural degenerates)

1. One who is degenerate, who has fallen from previous stature; an immoral person.

   In the cult of degenerates, acts of decency, kindness and modesty could be seen as acts of apostasy.

Translations

Verb

degenerate (third-person singular simple present degenerates, present participle degenerating, simple past and past participle degenerated)

1. (intransitive) 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.

2. (transitive) To cause to lose good or desirable qualities.

Derived terms

• degeneration

Translations

References

Further reading

• degenerate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• degenerate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Italian

Adjective

degenerate

1. feminine plural of degenerato

Noun

degenerate f

1. plural of degenerata

Verb

degenerate

1. inflection of degenerare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

degenerate

1. feminine plural of degenerato

Latin

Verb

d?gener?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of d?gener?

English

Alternative forms

• (obsolete) paultry, paultrie, palterey

Etymology

From Middle Low German paltrig (“ragged, rubbishy, worthless”), from palter, palte (“cloth, rag, shred”), from Old Saxon *paltro, *palto (“cloth, rag”), from Proto-Germanic *paltrô, *paltô (“scrap, rag, patch”). Cognate with Low German palterig (“ragged, torn”), dialectal German palterig (“paltry”). Compare also Low German palte (“rag”), West Frisian palt (“rag”), Saterland Frisian Palte (“strip; band; tape”), dialectal German Palter (“rag”), Danish pjalt (“rag, tatter”), Swedish palta (“rag”). See also palterly.

Pronunciation

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /?p?lt?i/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p?lt?i/, /?p??lt?i/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?p?lt?i/, /?p?lt?i/

Adjective

paltry (comparative paltrier, superlative paltriest)

1. Trashy, trivial, of little value.

   Synonyms: insignificant, unimportant, petty, trivial
2. Of little monetary worth.

   Synonyms: meager, worthless, pitiful, trifling
3. Despicable

   A paltry coward.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "paltry" is often applied: sum, rate, amount, number, price, salary, wages, fellow, pay, excuse, income, gain, compensation.

Derived terms

• paltriness

Translations

Anagrams

• partly, raptly