Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (v. i.) To be or grow worse than one was originally; hence, to be inferior; to grow poorer, meaner, or more vicious; to decline in good qualities; to deteriorate. 2. (a.) 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. 3. (v. i.) To fall off from the normal quality or the healthy structure of its kind; to become of a lower type. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia DEGENERATE de-jen'-er-at: Only in Jeremiah 2:21, where Judah is compared to a "noble vine" which it "turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine." It represents Hebrew curim = "stray" or "degenerate (shoots)," from cur = "to turn aside," especially to turn aside from the right path (Greek pikria, literally, "bitterness").

Multi-Version Concordance Degenerate (1 Occurrence) Jeremiah 2:21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me? (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)