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Glite Dictionary
📉 Believing in decline 📉 A decline believer
degenerationist

degenerationist

9.9
A person who believes societies or species get worse over time
  • noun
  • /ˌdɛdʒəˈnɛrɪʃənɪst/
  • Archaic
: degeneracionista
  • The scientist is considered a prominent degenerationist, warning that environmental neglect will lead to societal decline.

Examples

  • In his lecture, the historian explained the views of a degenerationist who believes that modern society is regressing.

  • As a degenerationist, she argues that many species are facing extinction due to human activities.

  • (Beeton here shows her awareness of the "degenerationist" theories of contemporaries like Richard Whatley and W. Cooke Taylor.)

    Academic text (1997)

Synonyms

doomer
vsdegenerationist
  • Slang
2 9.3

A person who thinks the future will be bad and expects disaster

holds a theory that societies or species decline over time

Antonyms

reformer
69 3.5

A person who works to make society or its institutions better

optimist
60 3.2

A person who usually expects good things to happen

Surface Forms

degenerationist singular
degenerationists plural

Morphology

degenerationist = degeneration (semi-transparent) = de + generate + ion + ist

The suffix '-ist' clearly denotes a person who practices or believes in the concept of degeneration.

Etymology

Degenerationist combines de- ('down') and generate ('to make') with the ending -ist ('a person who believes'), as in artist. So a degenerationist is someone who believes that societies or species are 'getting worse' or in 'decline'.