# degeneracy

/dɪˈdʒɛnɝəsi/ (US) · /dɪdʒˈɛnəɹəsi/ (UK) · CEFR C2 · Noun

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/degeneracy
Updated: 2026-09-28

## Definition

a condition where different internal parts or settings produce the exact same observable behavior or result.

For teachers: the state of being degenerate; in neural systems and physics, the capacity of structurally distinct elements to perform identical functions or yield indistinguishable outputs.

## Examples

- Permuting the order of hidden neurons causes parameter degeneracy without altering the network output.
- Biological neural circuits exhibit functional degeneracy, allowing them to remain robust against individual neuron loss.
- Overparameterized neural networks possess immense architectural degeneracy, creating vast sub-manifolds of equivalent global minimizers across the loss landscape.

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