All 7 Uses of
degenerate
in
Bleak House
- "Are we not, sir?" said I. "We have degenerated," he returned, shaking his head, which he could do to a very limited extent in his cravat.†
Chpt 13-15
- —has degenerated very much, and is degenerating every day.†
Chpt 13-15
- —has degenerated very much, and is degenerating every day.†
Chpt 13-15 *
- Turn that dog's descendants wild, like Jo, and in a very few years they will so degenerate that they will lose even their bark—but not their bite.†
Chpt 16-18
- It is much in these times (and we have made an awfully degenerating business of it since the days of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent—my patron, if I may presume to say so) to experience that deportment is not wholly trodden under foot by mechanics.†
Chpt 22-24
- "You are a nonsensical child to have done anything of this kind," said Mrs. Jellyby; "and a degenerate child, when you might have devoted yourself to the great public measure.†
Chpt 22-24
- So our young friends, reduced to prose (which is much to be regretted), degenerate in their power of imparting pleasure to me.†
Chpt 61-63
Definition:
-
(degenerate) to grow worse; or describing a person or situation that is worse in the sense of deviating from what is socially acceptable