How to Use degenerative in a Sentence

degenerative

adjective
  • There is no cure for the degenerative disease, but medicines and surgery can help ease symptoms.
    — Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 4 June 2025
  • Loss of meniscus does increase the risk of degenerative changes in the knee.
    — Eric Branch, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 Apr. 2021
  • Wright had a degenerative back and has only played 75 games the last two years.
    — Orange County Register, 1 Apr. 2017
  • Alzheimer’s is a degenerative brain disease the damages and kills brain cells.
    — Ken Alltucker, USA TODAY, 30 May 2023
  • But the most common cause of weak knees is a degenerative joint disease known as arthritis.
    — Daryl Austin, USA Today, 2 May 2025
  • Stafford has a degenerative back issue that cost him almost all of training camp last year.
    — Nate Atkins, New York Times, 29 May 2026
  • But the degenerative disc disease that has plagued him all his life acted up again, and the house just is no longer a good fit for him.
    — Shari Rudavsky, Indianapolis Star, 16 Mar. 2018
  • Took her own life after living with pain from a degenerative spinal disease.
    — Bernard McGhee, Twin Cities, 29 Dec. 2019
  • Some people with degenerative disc disease may have no symptoms at all.
    — Aria Bendix, NBC news, 20 Aug. 2025
  • A lot of meniscus tears lead to degenerative knees if not taken care of properly.
    — Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 6 Jan. 2025
  • And Bakari was an older male with a degenerative disc disease.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Jan. 2022
  • But comedy can still be a weapon in the fight against this deadly degenerative disease.
    — Nicholas St. Fleur, STAT, 8 Sep. 2023
  • The degenerative nervous system disease can affect nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
    — Lisa Respers France, CNN, 9 July 2024
  • The cause of death was degenerative disease of the nervous system.
    — Sam Whiting, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 July 2022
  • Biogen's drug Aduhelm may help slow damage to the brain caused by the degenerative disease.
    — Joseph Walker, WSJ, 8 June 2021
  • The future course of her disease is unpredictable as is the case with most degenerative diseases.
    — Meagan Flynn, Washington Post, 11 Apr. 2023
  • But a few years ago, the 71-year-old got a degenerative autoimmune disease.
    — David Fischer and Terry Spencer, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2024
  • Later in life, even as a degenerative eye condition robbed him of his sight, the images of his past never escaped him.
    — NBC News, 15 May 2020
  • And what about Anne, saddled with a degenerative disease and a less-than-sexy cleric husband?
    — Robert Lloyd, Boston Herald, 28 Sep. 2025
  • There is no cure for the degenerative disease, and no treatment has yet been developed to slow its progression.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Mar. 2021
  • The rare degenerative disease causes the cells in the retina to break down slowly over time, causing vision loss.
    — Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 2 Mar. 2023
  • The team said the move, retroactive to Sunday, is due to lumbar degenerative disk disease.
    — Beth Harris, Chicago Tribune, 15 Apr. 2025
  • In real life, Anne was reported to have suffered from a degenerative illness for most of her life.
    — Lynsey Eidell, PEOPLE, 26 Sep. 2025
  • One showed signs of a degenerative disease, but the others appear to have died of illnesses that didn't leave clear marks on their skeletons.
    — Annalee Newitz, Ars Technica, 19 Nov. 2017
  • Knee osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease causing pain, swelling and stiffness in the knees that worsens over time.
    — Angelica Stabile, FOXNews.com, 17 Oct. 2025
  • That framework doesn’t work for rare, rapidly degenerative diseases that may have only a few hundred patients.
    — Elise Esposito, Boston Herald, 29 May 2026
  • Neely, 57, suffers from degenerative bone disease and spinal stenosis that leaves him in constant pain.
    — Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Mar. 2022
  • New research shows that chronic stress can even raise the risk of degenerative brain diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s.
    — Bryan Robinson, Forbes, 2 May 2022
  • The only option for patients is drugs that can keep the degenerative condition in check, rather than tackle its root causes.
    — Sy Mukherjee, Fortune, 8 Sep. 2021
  • What sounds like a broadcaster’s signature was born from a son trying to reach his father through the fog of a degenerative disease.
    — Ryan Brennan, Charlotte Observer, 3 Mar. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'degenerative.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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