deteriorateverb [ I ]
uk/dɪˈtɪə.ri.ə.reɪt/us/dɪˈtɪr.i.ə.reɪt/C1 to become worse:
She was taken into hospital last week when her condition suddenly deteriorated.
The political situation in the region has deteriorated rapidly.
More examples
- We could see his health deteriorating week by week.
- Unfortunately the survey shows that children's health is deteriorating in many areas.
- As the company's financial outlook deteriorated, several directors resigned.
- My eyesight began to deteriorate quite rapidly.
- We knew that, for the children's sake, we had to prevent our relationship from deteriorating any further.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Deteriorating and making worse
- a step backwards idiom
- a turn of the screw idiom
- add
- afford
- aggravate
- backslide
- compound
- decline
- degrade
- dog
- downgrade
- downhill
- exacerbate
- fan the flames idiom
- retrograde
- retrogress
- run yourself down
- seed
- slip
- slippery slope
See more results »
deterioration
noun [ C or U ] uk/dɪˌtɪə.ri.əˈreɪ.ʃən/us/dɪˌtɪr.i.əˈreɪ.ʃən/
We've seen a deterioration in relations between the countries.