Who is a degradant? Sometimes this is called a person who is stupid, limited. In order to answer the question of who the degradant is, one should consider the term that came to our speech from the Polish language. What is this concept?
Demotion
The term is borrowed from the Polish language. But the word "degradation" itself has a Latin origin, means "lowering." During the reign of Peter the Great, many elegiac terms appeared in Russian speech, not only German and English. It was then that the word came from Polish, which meant "deprivation of ranks." A man of the 18th century could hardly answer the question of who such a degradant is. This word was not in Russian. There was “degradation” - a concept that acquired a different meaning in the 19th century.
A fall
In the 19th century, the concept of “degradation” did not mean demotion, but a gradual deterioration, decline, loss of any qualities.
In the Dahl dictionary, we will not find the answer to the question of who is a degradant. But the word is found in fiction and journalistic literature. So, Petsuh, in one of his works, discussing the writers of the 19th century, said: "All degradants and fools roused Gogol for Nozdrev and Plyushkin." What did the Russian prose writer mean?
Nikolai Gogol wrote a poem that caused a stir in society. He created unpleasant portraits of Russian landowners, and perhaps some readers saw themselves in colorful characters. "Dead Souls" is a kind of criticism of the old landlord system. Who are Pietzuh degradants? Those who are not ready to say goodbye to old habits. In other words, inert, poorly educated, limited people.
Alcohol degradation
The word "degradant" is rarely used. But the noun from which it is formed is quite common in medical literature. There is such a term as "alcohol degradation."
Regular alcohol consumption is addictive. At certain stages of alcohol dependence, a person begins to degrade. It degrades both intellectually and socially. This is expressed in behavior, in instability of mood, pessimism, resentment, excessive excitability and so on. But is it possible to call a person suffering from alcohol addiction a degradant? Theoretically, yes. However, this is unlikely to sound correct.
Synonyms and Antonyms
In the explanatory dictionary, you can find words that are similar in meaning to the term "degradant": degenerate, degenerate. Based on Pietzuh’s quote above, the rude word "fool" can also be used as a synonym.
Degradation is regression. This is the opposite of development. That is, the antonym to the word "degradant" is a progressive person.