Degradation \Deg`ra*da"tion\, n. [LL. degradatio, from
degradare: cf. F. d['e]gradation. See Degrade.]
1. The act of reducing in rank, character, or reputation, or
of abasing; a lowering from one's standing or rank in
office or society; diminution; as, the degradation of a
peer, a knight, a general, or a bishop.
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He saw many removes and degradations in all the
other offices of which he had been possessed.
--Clarendon.
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2. The state of being reduced in rank, character, or
reputation; baseness; moral, physical, or intellectual
degeneracy; disgrace; abasement; debasement.
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The . . . degradation of a needy man of letters.
--Macaulay.
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Deplorable is the degradation of our nature.
--South.
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Moments there frequently must be, when a sinner is
sensible of the degradation of his state. --Blair.
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3. Diminution or reduction of strength, efficacy, or value;
degeneration; deterioration.
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The development and degradation of the alphabetic
forms can be traced. --I. Taylor
(The
Alphabet).
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4. (Geol.) A gradual wearing down or wasting, as of rocks and
banks, by the action of water, frost etc.
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5. (Biol.) The state or condition of a species or group which
exhibits degraded forms; degeneration.
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The degradation of the species man is observed in
some of its varieties. --Dana.
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6. (Physiol.) Arrest of development, or degeneration of any
organ, or of the body as a whole.
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Degradation of energy, or Dissipation of energy
(Physics), the transformation of energy into some form in
which it is less available for doing work.
Syn: Abasement; debasement; reduction; decline.
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Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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198 Moby Thesaurus words for "degradation":
abandon, abandonment, abasement, abjection, abjectness, ablation,
abominableness, atomization, atrociousness, banishment, baseness,
beggarliness, biodegradability, biodegradation, blackballing,
breakup, bump, bust, casting down, chicanery, comedown, concavity,
contemptibility, contemptibleness, corrosion, corruptedness,
corruption, corruptness, crumbling, crumminess, de-escalation,
debasement, decadence, decadency, decay, declension, declination,
decline, decomposition, deformation, defrocking, degeneracy,
degenerateness, degeneration, degradability, degrading,
demoralization, demotion, depluming, deportation, depravation,
depravedness, depravity, depreciation, depression, deprivation,
derogation, descent, despicableness, deterioration, detrusion,
devolution, dilapidation, diminution, disbarment, discredit,
disfellowship, disgrace, disgrading, dishonor, disintegration,
disjunction, disorganization, displuming, disrepute, dissoluteness,
dissolution, downgrading, downtrend, downturn, downward mobility,
downward trend, drop, ducking, dying, ebb, effeteness, enormity,
erosion, exclusion, excommunication, execrableness, exile,
expatriation, extradition, fading, failing, failure,
failure of nerve, fall, falling-off, foulness, fugitation,
fulsomeness, grossness, hauling down, heinousness, hollowness,
humbling, humiliation, ignobility, ignominiousness, ignominy,
incoherence, infamousness, infamy, ingloriousness, involution,
knavery, knavishness, lapse, littleness, loss of honor,
loss of tone, lowering, lowness, meanness, mildew, miserableness,
mold, monstrousness, moral pollution, moral turpitude,
nefariousness, obloquy, obnoxiousness, odiousness, odium,
opprobrium, ostracism, ostracization, outlawing, outlawry,
oxidation, oxidization, paltriness, pettiness, pokiness, poorness,
profligacy, rankness, rascality, rascalry, ravages of time,
reduction, regression, relegation, reprobacy, resolution,
retrocession, retrogradation, retrogression, roguery, roguishness,
rottenness, rust, rustication, scabbiness, scampishness,
scoundrelism, scrubbiness, scruffiness, scumminess, scurviness,
shabbiness, shame, shoddiness, sinking, slippage, slump, smallness,
spoilage, squalor, stripping, stripping of rank, submergence,
thrusting under, transportation, turpitude, unfrocking, vileness,
villainousness, villainy, vitiation, wane, wear, wear and tear,
wretchedness
Source: Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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