deteriorate
verb /dɪˈtɪəriəreɪt/
/dɪˈtɪriəreɪt/
[intransitive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they deteriorate | /dɪˈtɪəriəreɪt/ /dɪˈtɪriəreɪt/ |
| he / she / it deteriorates | /dɪˈtɪəriəreɪts/ /dɪˈtɪriəreɪts/ |
| past simple deteriorated | /dɪˈtɪəriəreɪtɪd/ /dɪˈtɪriəreɪtɪd/ |
| past participle deteriorated | /dɪˈtɪəriəreɪtɪd/ /dɪˈtɪriəreɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form deteriorating | /dɪˈtɪəriəreɪtɪŋ/ /dɪˈtɪriəreɪtɪŋ/ |
- to become worse
- Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards.
- They had to cope with deteriorating weather conditions.
- deteriorate into something The discussion quickly deteriorated into an angry argument.
Extra ExamplesTopics Change, cause and effectc1- Relations between the two countries have deteriorated further this week.
- The situation is likely to deteriorate unless something is done now.
- The unrest rapidly deteriorated into civil war.
- The overall quality of rivers and canals has deteriorated.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- badly
- seriously
- severely
- …
- begin to
- continue to
- be likely to
- …
- into
Word Originlate 16th cent. (in the sense ‘make worse’): from late Latin deteriorat- ‘worsened’, from the verb deteriorare, from Latin deterior ‘worse’.