different between degenerate vs vile

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

Etymology

From Old French vil, from Latin vilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /va?l/
• Rhymes: -a?l
• Homophone: vial

Adjective

vile (comparative viler or more vile, superlative vilest or most vile)

1. Morally low; base; despicable.
2. Causing physical or mental repulsion; horrid.

Synonyms

• (morally low): base, despicable, mean, ignoble

Derived terms

• vilify

Translations

Anagrams

• Levi, Viel, evil, live, veil, vlei

Albanian

Etymology

A formation from vjel (“to pluck, harvest”).

Noun

vile f (indefinite plural vile, definite singular vilja, definite plural vilet)

1. bunch of grape

Related terms

• vjel
• vjell

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?v?l?]

Noun

vile f

1. dative/locative singular of vila

Estonian

Etymology

From vilisema +? -e.

Noun

vile (genitive vile, partitive vilet)

1. whistle

Declension

French

Adjective

vile

1. feminine singular of vil

Italian

Etymology

From Latin v?lis (“cheap”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?vi.le/

Adjective

vile (plural vili)

1. cowardly, dastardly

   Synonyms: codardo, vigliacco

2. base, miserable, mean

   Synonym: miserabile

3. cheap, worthless, base

   Synonym: privo di valore

Noun

vile m or f (plural vili)

1. coward

   Synonyms: fifone, codardo

Derived terms

• avvilire
• svilire

Related terms

• vilmente
• viltà
• vilipendio

Anagrams

• levi, live, veli

Latin

Adjective

v?le

1. inflection of v?lis:
   1. nominative neuter singular
   2. accusative neuter singular
   3. vocative neuter singular

Old French

Alternative forms

• ville

Etymology

From Latin v?lla.

Noun

vile f (oblique plural viles, nominative singular vile, nominative plural viles)

1. town; city

Descendants

• French: ville

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *vidly (Russian ????? (víly), Czech vidle).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?île/
• Hyphenation: vi?le

Noun

v?le f (Cyrillic spelling ?????)

1. (plural only) pitchfork

Declension

References

• “vile” in Hrvatski jezi?ni portal

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *vidla.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ì?l?/

Noun

víle f pl

1. pitchfork

Inflection

Further reading

• “vile”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

Swahili

Pronunciation

Adjective

vile

1. Vi class inflected form and adverbial form of -le.

Venetian

Noun

vile

1. plural of vila