Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Degenerate

Degenerate , adjective

[Latin degeneratus, past participle of degenerare to degenerate, cause to degenerate, from degener base, degenerate, that departs from its race or kind; de- + genus race, kind. See Kin relationship.]

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.
Faint-hearted and degenerate king. — Shakespeare
A degenerate and degraded state. — Milton
Degenerate from their ancient blood. — Swift
These degenerate days. — Pope
I had planted thee a noble vine...: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? — Jer. ii. 21

Degenerate , intransitive verb

1.
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.
When wit transgresseth decency, it degenerates into insolence and impiety. — Tillotson
2.
(Biology) To fall off from the normal quality or the healthy structure of its kind; to become of a lower type.

degenerate , noun

1.
a person who has declined from a high standard, especially a sexual deviate; -- usually used disparagingly or opprobriously of persons whose sexual behavior does not conform to the norms of accepted morals.
2.
a person or thing that has fallen from a higher to a lower state, or reverted to an earlier type or stage of development or culture. — RHUD