child molester vs degenerate

child molester and degenerate both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
child molester	Yes	No	No	No
degenerate	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

As nouns, degenerate is a hypernym of child molester; that is, degenerate is a word with a broader meaning than child molester:

child molester: a man who has sex (usually sodomy) with a boy as the passive partner
degenerate: a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior

Other hypernyms of child molester include deviant, deviate, perv, perve, pervert.

child molester (noun)	degenerate (noun)
a man who has sex (usually sodomy) with a boy as the passive partner	a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior

child molester (adjective)	degenerate (adjective)
	unrestrained by convention or morality

child molester (verb)	degenerate (verb)
	grow progressively worse