as in degenerate
having lost forcefulness, courage, or spirit
he felt rather washed-up after this latest business failure
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Recent Examples of washed-up
The film, about a group of revolutionaries who reunite to help one of their own — Bob Ferguson, a washed-up, paranoid stoner — rescue his daughter from their longtime enemy, has a lot to say about our fraught, divisive reality.
—
Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 27 Sep. 2025
Advertisement This is what happened last year when their most significant trade-deadline pickup was washed-up pitcher Lance Lynn, or the year before when their major summer acquisition was strikeout-prone outfielder Joey Gallo.
Dodgers
Clayton Kershaw returns to the Dodgers.
—Dylan Hernández, Los Angeles Times, 25 July 2024
Forget washed-up — Escola might not yet be a widely recognizable name, but the 37-year-old is on track to become one of the most original and influential voices in the alternative comedy scene.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 6 Feb. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for washed-up
Adjective
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All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave director Edward Berger is exploring another chill, very normal setting with a somewhat surreal thriller starring Colin Farrell as a degenerate gambler who is making a last-ditch effort to get out of the mountain of debt he’s made for himself.—
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In the quiet of the Sabbath morning when all the neighborhood was wrapped in slumber, some dastardly degenerate crept into the room, choked her to death, assaulted her criminally and left her bruised and bleeding body lying on the bed.—
Adjective
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Of the 20 dead cats, eight were too decayed for a necropsy exam, which determines the cause of death of a dead animal and any associated diseases or injuries.—
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The breakthrough came when researchers focused on coelomic fluid, the internal liquid surrounding the sea stars’ organs, rather than tissue from decayed specimens.—
Adjective
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New orders contracted for a fourth month and export bookings remained weak, based on the ISM data.—
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Getting too little of either can lead to weak, brittle bones, and too much can also cause problems (like kidney stones or nausea).—
Adjective
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At its proudly overripe heart, the series is a gothic domestic soap—Lifetime themes gussied up in Southern finery.—
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But at the end of 2021, S&P profits already looked overripe.—
Adjective
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Two meetings will be hosted this month for public input on a proposal to restore a degraded estuary in South Laguna at Aliso Creek.—
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Loyola Marymount University professor Demian Willette uses it to better understand how micro-forests take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, contribute to local biodiversity and help restore degraded land.—
Adjective
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Scarf critics accuse the accessory—and by extension, its wearers—of being effete or affected.—
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What we’re left with is an effete description that exists for itself and doesn’t illuminate the character.—
Adjective
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Inside, Kathryn Newton mingled with Chace Crawford near a decadent charcuterie spread and a piano mysteriously strewn with bread rolls and roses.—
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Coming in a decadent chocolate-brown shade, this best-selling top will transcend the season to get ample wear year-round.—
Cite this Entry
“Washed-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/washed-up. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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