different between wretched vs degenerate

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English wrecched, equivalent to wretch +? -ed.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???t??d/

Adjective

wretched (comparative wretcheder or more wretched, superlative wretchedest or most wretched)

1. Very miserable; feeling deep affliction or distress.

   I felt wretched after my wife died.
2. Worthless; paltry; very poor or mean; miserable.

   The street was full of wretched beggars dressed in rags.
3. (obsolete) Hatefully contemptible; despicable; wicked.
4. (informal) Used to express dislike of or annoyance towards the mentioned thing.

   Will you please stop playing that wretched trombone!

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "wretched" is often applied: woman, state, life, condition, creature, man, excess, person, place, world, being, situation, weather, slave, animal, city, village, health, house, town.

Synonyms

• (very miserable): See Thesaurus:sad or Thesaurus:lamentable
• (worthless): See Thesaurus:insignificant
• (hatefully contemptible): See Thesaurus:despicable

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• wretched in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• wretched in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “wretched”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??t?t/
• Rhymes: -?t?t

Verb

wretched

1. Misspelling of retched.

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?