deteriorate Hear it!

deteriorate Definition

de·terio·rate (dē tir′ē ə rāt′, di-)

transitive verb, intransitive verb -·rat′ed, -·rat′·ing

to make or become worse; lower in quality or value; depreciate

Etymology: < LL deterioratus, pp. of deteriorare, to make worse < L deterior, worse, inferior < *deter, below < de-, from + -ter, compar. suffix

deteriorate Related Forms
de·te′rio·ra′·tion noun
deteriorate Synonyms

deteriorate

v.

depreciate, decline, worsen, degenerate; see decay.

deteriorate Usage Examples

Object

  • eyesight: Melissa's eyesight deteriorated over a number of years.
  • situation: Does he share my grave concern about the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe?
  • weather: The race started on a wet track with light rain, but the weather deteriorated to a heavy downpour soon after.
  • condition: Conditions rapidly deteriorated in the early months of 1924.
  • visibility: Soon after however in deteriorating visibility and a whipping wind the day came to a close.
  • health: Or, worried about her mother's deteriorating health, works hard to find another way to live her own life.

Preposition: at

  • rate: Today it is extremely costly and unfortunately deteriorates at a rapid rate.

Preposition: as

  • result: The reputation of a business will quickly deteriorate as a result of poor quality work.

Preposition: over

  • time: Most landmines will deteriorate over time once exposed to the elements.

Adjective complement

  • due: Cost of Living The economy has deteriorated due to civil unrest.
  • further: The weather deteriorated further so we decided to head back to the resort.

Modifying Another Word

  • rapidly: Goods which by reason of their nature cannot be returned or are liable to deteriorate rapidly.
  • demonstrably: Incidents No events regarded as constituting incidents in which drinking water quality demonstrably deteriorated came to the attention of the Inspectorate in 2000.
  • markedly: After his health had deteriorated markedly he was admitted to the Queen's Medical Center in Nottingham, where he died several weeks later.
  • sharply: In real terms, the deficit in trade of goods and services has deteriorated sharply.
  • steadily: The path over Dow Crag has been steadily deteriorating from both directions.
  • badly: Some 350,000 people a year use the existing summit building, which was built in the 1930s and has deteriorated badly.

Used with why or when

  • when: The weather conditions start to change rapidly and deteriorate when they reach the 25,000 feet mark.

Preposition: beyond

  • repair: In cases where they have deteriorated beyond repair, replacement windows should be of a similar kind to the original windows.

Preposition: with

  • age: However nothing can stop it deteriorating further with age.