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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Vocabulary
DEGENERATE - MEANING
Recently I came across a quote from Peter Drucker, the renowned management guru. It says "Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.”
The Oxford English Dictionary gives meaning of degenerate as having lost usual or good qualities; immoral. Could you please clarify if selection of word degenerate would be correct ("degenerate into hard work") and go with the intent of the quote.
The Oxford English Dictionary gives meaning of degenerate as having lost usual or good qualities; immoral. Could you please clarify if selection of word degenerate would be correct ("degenerate into hard work") and go with the intent of the quote.
Top answer
The intent is correct, but he is using it jocularly, I think. state ; to pass from a higher to a lower type or condition. Plans are wonderful, exciting, perfect things by nature; hard work is necessary to realize plans, but it is not so exciting or wonderful, and accidents happen.
- The intent is correct, but he is using it jocularly, I think.
- state ; to pass from a higher to a lower type or condition.
- Plans are wonderful, exciting, perfect things by nature; hard work is necessary to realize plans, but it is not so exciting or wonderful, and accidents happen.
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1 Answers
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The intent is correct, but he is using it jocularly, I think. The meaning is not 'immoral', just 'loss of good qualities': to sink into a low intellectual...state ; to pass fr
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