Link Centre Dictionary

deteriorate

de·te·rio·rate

UK/dɪˈtɪə.ɹɪə.ɹeɪt/ US/dɪˈtɪə.ɹɪ.eɪt/ uncommon

verb

1.

become worse or disintegrate

  • “His mind deteriorated”
2.

grow worse

  • “Her condition deteriorated”
  • “Conditions in the slums degenerated”
  • “The discussion devolved into a shouting match”

Origin

Learned borrowing from Late Latin dēteriorātus, perfect passive participle of Late Latin dēteriorō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), further from Latin dēterior (“worse”). Cognate with French détériorer.

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.