Elegant degradation is a term used in engineering to describe what occurs to machines which are subject to constant, repetitive stress.
[1] Compared to graceful degradation, the operational quality does not decrease at all, but the breakdown may be just as sudden.
[2] This term's meaning varies depending on context and field, and may not be strictly considered exclusive to engineering.
For instance, this is used as a mechanism in the food industry as applied in the degradation of lignin, cellulose, pentosan, and polymers, among others.
[3] The concept is also used to extract chemicals such as the elegant degradation of Paederus fuscipes to obtain pederin and hemiacetal pseuodopederin.