The word degeneracy has more than one meaning:

• In general, "degeneracy" means "reverting to an earlier, simpler, state"
• The term "moral degeneracy" is sometimes used by speakers commenting on the morality (or lack thereof) of a society: this usage has its roots in the concept of atavism.
• Modernist art is sometimes described as "degenerate art".
• In biology, see devolution.
• In mathematics, a limiting case in which a class of object changes its nature so as to belong to another, usually simpler, class. See mathematical degeneracy.
• In physics, these meanings apply:
  • The mathematical meaning.
  • Degenerate matter is a very highly compressed phase of matter where all or some of the electron orbits have collapsed from pressure.
  • Degenerate energy levels are different arrangements of the system which have the same energy.
• Degenerate (humans), inferior human