Degradation (from Latin: degradatio, literally — reduction), regression — the process of deterioration of characteristics of an object with time; moving back; gradual decline; decline in quality; breakdown of matter due to the impact of external forces in conformity with the laws of nature and time. Degradation is often referred to as the opposite of Progress. Degradation may refer to:
- Biodegradation, the processes by which organic substances are broken down by living organisms
- Cashiering or degradation ceremony, a ritual performed when cleric is deprived of office or a knight is stripped of the honour
- Chemical decomposition, the degradation of chemical compounds
- Corruption (philosophical concept)
- Defamation
- "Degradation" a song by the Violent Femmes, from Add It Up (1981–1993)
- Degradation (telecommunications), the loss of quality of an electronic signal
- Elegant degradation, in engineering, the gradual failing of a machine
- Environmental degradation, in ecology, damage to the ecosystem and loss of biodiversity
- Graceful degradation, in a fault-tolerant system
- Degradation (geology)
Famous quotes containing the word degradation:
“Self-alienation is the source of all degradation as well as, on the contrary, the basis of all true elevation. The first step will be a look inward, an isolating contemplation of our self. Whoever remains standing here proceeds only halfway. The second step must be an active look outward, an autonomous, determined observation of the outer world.”
—Novalis [Friedrich Von Hardenberg] (1772–1801)
“I suppose one has a greater sense of intellectual degradation after an interview with a doctor than from any human experience.”
—Alice James (1848–1892)
“Why, since man and woman were created for each other, had He made their desires so dissimilar? Why should one class of women be able to dwell in luxurious seclusion from the trials of life, while another class performed their loathsome tasks? Surely His wisdom had not decreed that one set of women should live in degradation and in the end should perish that others might live in security, preserve their frappeed chastity, and in the end be saved.”
—Madeleine [Blair], U.S. prostitute and “madam.” Madeleine, ch. 10 (1919)