1811 Edinb. Ann. Reg. 1809 2 i. 403/1 The disputes between this country and America are not indeed concluded, nor is there any prospect of their termination; but there is as little prospect of their worsening into a state of war.

1827 R. Southey Select. from Lett. (1856) IV. 250 To the serious injury of his health, and even to the worsening of his temper.

1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda II. iii. xix. 5 The ten or twelve years since the parting had been time enough for much worsening.

1887 Athenæum 29 Jan. 153/3 The steady worsening of social conditions.

1950 Rev. Econ. Stud. 17 218 The continual worsening of the housing situation and the stagnation of the building industry became serious problems.

1976 L. R. Banks Dark Quartet (1986) iii. iii. 154 That evening she thought she perceived a worsening in Anne's condition.

2003 D. Poyer Country of our Own (2005) 91 I'm to tell him if I note a worsening of the fracture.

1835 R. Southey Doctor iii, in Jrnl. Belles Lettres 3 Nov. Sunday schools..had not at that time been devised as a palliative for the profligacy of large towns, and the worsened and worsening condition of the poor.

1858 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia II. ix. x. 526 Does not reach Potsdam till the 14th September, and then in a weak, worsening, and altogether dangerous condition.

1891 G. A. Smith in Robert W. Barbour (1893) 425 A very large number of worsening or desperate cases [of drunkenness].

1969 F. Mowat Boat who wouldn't Float (1976) xii. 135 I was becoming increasingly worried about a spreading overcast and rapidly worsening visibility that was forcing us to hold ever closer to a most inhospitable coast.

2011 Independent 1 Nov. 14/2 People being forced to take out loans or turn to credit cards to pay for essentials, despite the worsening economic forecast.