degradation (redirected from abasement)

degradation [‚deg·rə′dā·shən]

(computer science)

Condition under which a computer operates when some area of memory or some units of peripheral equipment are not available to the user.

(geology)

The wearing down of the land surface by processes of erosion and weathering.

(hydrology)

Lowering of a stream bed.

Shrinkage or disappearance of permafrost.

(organic chemistry)

Conversion of an organic compound to one containing a smaller number of carbon atoms.

(physics)

Loss of energy of a particle, such as a neutron or photon, through a collision.

(thermodynamics)

The conversion of energy into forms that are increasingly difficult to convert into work, resulting from the general tendency of entropy to increase.