deteriorate

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“
It would be hard to believe that there ever will be such compensations in the case of the human race Moreover: The theory of equality in the long run would seem to require that some deteriorate, which is extremely unlikely, in view of the fact that the normal law of God's universe is advancement Then, further: We cannot conceive of equality of endowment as producing the maximum of happiness.

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. transitive verb To diminish or impair in quality, character, or value: Time and neglect had deteriorated the property.
  2. intransitive verb To grow worse; degenerate: The weather deteriorated overnight. His health had deteriorated while he was in prison.
  3. intransitive verb To weaken or disintegrate; decay: The nation's highways are deteriorating at a rapid pace.

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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples (33)

  • It would be hard to believe that there ever will be such compensations in the case of the human race Moreover: The theory of equality in the long run would seem to require that some deteriorate, which is extremely unlikely, in view of the fact that the normal law of God's universe is advancement Then, further: We cannot conceive of equality of endowment as producing the maximum of happiness. —  Love's Final Victory
  • The U.S. net external position [foreign debt] will also continue to deteriorate, as U.S. —  American Thinker
  • Every time things reach the point where they could not possibly deteriorate, they do. —  24/7 Wall Street
  • Salesforce. com's business "continues to deteriorate, the best is over, the worse is still to come." —  pfblogs.org: The Ad-Free Personal Finance Blogs Aggregator
  • Things goof sometimes, and that will likely make any such situation deteriorate * extremely* quickly. —  MacUpdate - Mac OS X
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same contextWord Family

deteriorate:   deteriorating ·  deteriorated ·  deteriorates
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Late Latin dēteriōrāre, dēteriōrāt-, from Latin dēterior, worse; see de- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Late Latin deterioratus, past participle of deteriorare (later Italian deteriorare = Spanish Portuguese Provencal deteriorar = French détériorer), make worse, from deterior, worse, comp. of *deter, literally lower, inferior, comp. of de, down: see de-, and cf. exterior, interior, inferior, etc.
 

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/dəˈtirɪəreɪt/
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