When the universe hands out the same energy to multiple states, like a rigged raffle with identical prizes.
means In physics and math, degeneracy means two or more distinct states share the exact same value (usually energy), so a single number secretly hides multiple realities.
from From Latin degenerare, to depart from one's kind — originally about lineages losing distinction, borrowed by 19th and 20th century physicists to describe quantum states that likewise refuse to be told apart by energy alone.
hydrogen atom orbitals — same energy level, multiple s p d shapes
white dwarf stars — electron degeneracy pressure resists further collapse
zeeman effect — magnetic field splits degenerate spectral lines, 1896
particle in a box — different quantum numbers, identical energy in 3d