as in degenerate
having lost forcefulness, courage, or spirit
he felt rather washed-up after this latest business failure
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of washed-up
Hacks season 5 Five years ago, Ava (Hannah Einbinder) struggled to accept her lot in life when she was hired to be washed-up comedian Deborah Vance's (Jean Smart) new writer.
—
Rebecca Aizin,
PEOPLE,
10 Apr. 2026
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
Last offseason, the Washington Capitals signed several players seen as washed-up or underachieving.
—
The Christian Science Monitor,
Christian Science Monitor,
7 Apr. 2025
Rebecca Aizin,
PEOPLE,
10 Apr. 2026
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
Last offseason, the Washington Capitals signed several players seen as washed-up or underachieving.
—
The Christian Science Monitor,
Christian Science Monitor,
7 Apr. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for washed-up
Adjective
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After delivery, the umbilical arteries constrict and degenerate.
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As her life begins overlapping with the events of the film, she’s confronted with her own degenerate desires, as the Nazis would call them.
Adjective
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Discard any that look dead or decayed.
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The farm buildings on the property—long verandas, shearing sheds, and concrete kennels—are old and decayed, remnants from long before the group showed up.
Adjective
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Following a year of historically weak hiring in 2025, hiring rebounded this spring.
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In a weak free-agency class, centers Robert Williams III (Portland) and Mark Williams (Phoenix) are already off the market, each reportedly agreeing to return to their current teams.
Adjective
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Faster delivery with degraded quality just accelerates technical debt and erodes user trust.
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Her days are spent growing coral fragments in nurseries, cleaning restoration structures, managing coral predators and transplanting coral onto degraded reefs.
Adjective
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Republicans have sought to cast him as an effete extremist.
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Scarf critics accuse the accessory—and by extension, its wearers—of being effete or affected.
Adjective
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Vanilla wafer cookies provide a fun and unexpected crust that holds up decadent, creamy layers of chocolate and vanilla.
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The book-length poem, set at a private party, explores the decadent lifestyles associated with the movie industry in California in the 1920s.
Cite this Entry
“Washed-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/washed-up. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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