Degeneratively

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a manner indicating gradual decline in quality, function, or morality; characterized by progressive deterioration or worsening conditions over time; displaying a continuous regression from a former state
2. Describing actions or processes that cause a slow degradation in physical, mental, or ethical standards; showing a step-by-step decline or breakdown; exhibiting a shrinking away from original excellence or health
3. Pertaining to a way of occurring that involves successive worsening or decay in structure, abilities, or principles; marked by a continual slipping into inferior or impaired states; relating to ongoing negative transformation or collapse

Etymology: "Degeneratively" is simply the adverb of "degenerative," formed by adding the suffix "-ly" to that adjective. The adjective itself is built from "degenerate," which comes from Latin "degenerare," meaning to depart from one's kind or race, from "de-" (away from) and "genus" (kind, birth). The original sense was biological and moral: a degenerate was something that had fallen away from its proper type, which is why the family of words took on the idea of a decline from a better former state. The "-ative" ending attaches to "degenerate" to form an adjective describing a process that tends toward decline, and the "-ly" suffix turns that adjective into an adverb describing how such a process unfolds. The result describes deterioration that happens step by step over time, carrying the same core idea of falling away from an original, healthier condition that the Latin root supplied.

Synonyms: deterioratively, decliningly

Antonyms: progressively, improvingly