Crossword Genius

Degenerate briefly provided end to discriminatory abuse (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

vilify

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'abuse' is the definition.
(vilifying is a kind of abusing)

'degenerate briefly provided end to discriminatory' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'provided' could be 'if' (eg 'provided it's sunny' means 'if it's sunny') and 'if' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for vilify that I've seen before include "Abuse - defame" , "Abusively disparage" , "Malign or defame" , "Spread negative information about" , "rubbish" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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