deteriorate
to make or become worse or inferior in condition, character, quality, value, etc.
to disintegrate or wear away.
Origin of deteriorate
1Other words for deteriorate
Other words from deteriorate
- de·te·ri·o·ra·tive, adjective
- un·de·te·ri·o·rat·ed, adjective
- un·de·te·ri·o·ra·tive, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use deteriorate in a sentence
Infrastructure—bridges, highways, pavement—deteriorates over time with continuous use.
Smart Concrete Could Pave the Way for High-Tech, Cost-Effective Roads | Luna Lu | November 13, 2020 | Singularity HubA five-year cheddar, although tasty, will result in an overly oily fondue because its casein has deteriorated too much to form a cohesive melted mass.
The scientific way to make perfectly creamy fondue | By Pat Polowsky/Saveur | October 2, 2020 | Popular-ScienceTry as they might to cross-pollinate through research and investments, the climate between China and the United States continues to deteriorate into political one-upmanship, leaving users to pay the steepest costs.
It’s getting harder for tech companies to bridge the US-China divide | Amy Nordrum | September 21, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewOne year as a teacher — you’re not going to deteriorate as a teacher and not be able to get paid going forward.
Why Can’t Schools Get What the N.F.L. Has? (Ep. 431) | Stephen J. Dubner | September 10, 2020 | FreakonomicsThe Tuesday talks marked a rare moment of cooperation between the two powers, whose deteriorating relations over the pandemic, Hong Kong, and human rights, at times, have appeared to put the trade pact at risk.
The U.S.-China trade deal is moving ahead—in spite of everything | Grady McGregor | August 25, 2020 | Fortune
Ruby also danced in a chorus of a Hollywood club for a while, as her marriage deteriorated and finally ended in divorce.
Dostum remains a power broker today, although his health has deteriorated from the effects of a hard life and heavy drinking.
The Warlord Who Defines Afghanistan: An Excerpt From Bruce Riedel’s ’What We Won’ | Bruce Riedel | July 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHow could things in Ukraine have deteriorated to the point where Putin was now engaged in such a reckless act of aggression?
Unfortunately, the U.S. relationships with Egypt and Turkey have both deteriorated since 2012.
Everyone Says John Kerry Should Stay Out of the Middle East | Josh Rogin | July 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAccording to reports, things deteriorated after AlFayez divorced the monarch and flew to London.
But in Virginia it was grown without interruption or alternation, and the plantations rapidly deteriorated in fertility.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce | E. R. Billings.And there was not too much of it—never any more than a tired and slightly deteriorated editor could stand.
The Creators | May SinclairSide by side with this deteriorated literature there goes on a more encouraging folk-singing.
Of the fourteen “good,” thirteen graduated in as good health; one in much deteriorated health.
The Education of American Girls | Anna Callender BrackettWorse than all, too, the common trout deteriorated, for they had fed on the spawn of the salmo eriox.
British Dictionary definitions for deteriorate
/ (dɪˈtɪərɪəˌreɪt) /
to make or become worse or lower in quality, value, character, etc; depreciate
(intr) to wear away or disintegrate
Origin of deteriorate
1Derived forms of deteriorate
- deterioration, noun
- deteriorative, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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