2. clever, shrewd, Archaic, parlous, Inf. cute; cunning, canny, guileful, subtle, artful, crafty, slick; ingenious, inventive, resourceful; sagacious, astute, keen, acute, sharp, sharp-witted, sharp as a tack, quick-witted; apt, smart, witty,
defunct, adj. 1. deceased, dead, extinct. See - dead (def. 1).
2. obsolete, obsolescent, outmoded, passd; expired, dead; not operating, not functioning. See - dead (def. 6).
defy, v. 1. disregard, ignore, flout, fly in the face of, disobey; slight, set at naught, scoff at, thumb one's nose at, snap one's fingers at; disdain, spurn, deride, contemn, despise.
2. challenge, dare, double-dare, Sl. double-dog-dare; confront, front, face, meet face to face, meet head-on, meet eyeball to eyeball, square off.
3. withstand, stand, endure, hold up, hold out, bear up.
degeneracy, n. corruption, turpitude, decadence, immorality, depravity, depravation, dissoluteness, profligacy, abandon; baseness, vileness, wickedness, evilness, sinfulness, low-mindedness,
degenerate, v. 1. deteriorate, decline, sink, wors
en, take a turn for the worse, slip; go downhill, go to pieces, go to ruin, Inf. go to pot, Inf. go to the dogs, Sl. hit the skids; fall, fail, lapse, retrogress, retrograde, let oneself go; go wrong, err, go astray, leave the straight and narrow.
-adj. 1. deteriorated, degraded, debased; corrupt, decadent, depraved, debauched, dissolute, fallen, viceridden; mean, base, vile, ignoble, base-minded, low-minded, Inf. low-down.
-n. 3. wretch, beggar, derelict, drunkard,
vagrant, Sl. bum, Sl. low-life, Sl. bag lady, Sl. stiff.
4. (all in reference to sexual activity) pervert, deviate, fiend, maniac, psychopath; sadist, masochist, fetishist, voyeur, scotophiliac, erotomaniac, nymphomaniac; sodomist, sodomite, bugger; pederast, pedophiliac, child-molester; catamite, Sl. gunsel, Sl. chicken, Sl. punk; coprophiliac; necrophiliac; zoophiliac.
degeneration, n. 1. deterioration, vitiation, degradation, decline, declination, declension, descent, drop, fall; retrogression, retrogradation, regression, lapse, atrophy; corruption, depravation, debasement, demoralization, dissolution, dissipation.
2. degeneracy, turpitude, immorality. See - degeneracy, degradation, n. 1. demotion, deposition, reduction in or stripping of rank, removal or dismissal from office; fall from repute, removal from standing, obloquy, loss of face, deprival of honor; disgrace, dishonor, disrepute, discredit, derogation, shame, ignominy, humiliation, mortification, Inf. comedown.
2. depravity, degeneration, decadence, abasement, corruption, perversion, deterioration, vitiation, meanness, baseness, turpitude.
3. Geology, erosion, abrasion, wearing away,
degrade, v. 1. demote, downgrade, lower or reduce
in rank, dismiss or remove from office, declass, break or strip of rank, disrate, cashier, Mil. drum out, Mil. Sl. bust, Inf. kick upstairs, disbar, defrock or unfrock; depose, unseat, dethrone, Rare, disenthrone.
2. debase, abase, defame, vitiate, deprave; discredit, devalue, detract, lower, reduce, depress; shame, disgrace, dishonor; humble, humiliate, mortify; belittle, demean, deprecate, disparage, deflate, derogate, (of oneself) bemean.