DETERIORATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does deteriorate mean? 

• DETERIORATE (verb)
  The verb DETERIORATE has 2 senses:

1. become worse or disintegrate

2. grow worse

  Familiarity information: DETERIORATE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DETERIORATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they deteriorate    ... he / she / it deteriorates   
Past simple: deteriorated   
Past participle: deteriorated   
-ing form: deteriorating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become worse or disintegrate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

His mind deteriorated

Hypernyms (to "deteriorate" is one way to...):

crumble; decay; dilapidate (fall into decay or ruin)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deteriorate"):

go to pot; go to the dogs (become ruined)

wear; wear down; wear off; wear out; wear thin (deteriorate through use or stress)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

deterioration (process of changing to an inferior state)

deterioration (a symptom of reduced quality or strength)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Grow worse

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

degenerate; deteriorate; devolve; drop

Context example:

The discussion devolved into a shouting match

Hypernyms (to "deteriorate" is one way to...):

decline; worsen (grow worse)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deteriorate"):

fatigue; jade; pall; tire; weary (lose interest or become bored with something or somebody)

fade; languish (become feeble)

rot; waste (become physically weaker)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Antonym:

recuperate (get over an illness or shock)

Derivation:

deterioration (process of changing to an inferior state)

deterioration (a symptom of reduced quality or strength)

 Context examples 

The worst of it is that the poor boy will keep on this way until he deteriorates into a first-class newspaper man and also a first-class scoundrel.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Perhaps the population had grown too large to feed itself as the climate deteriorated.

(Scientists chart a baby boom in southwestern Native Americans from 500 to 1300 A.D., NSF)

This cancer ‘parasite’ has proved remarkably successful at surviving over thousands of years, yet is steadily deteriorating.

(The curious tale of the cancer ‘parasite’ that sailed the seas, University of Cambridge)

They found that in ground squirrel neurons the microtubule cytoskeleton remains intact while it deteriorates in the neurons of humans and other non-hibernating animals, including rats.

(Researchers develop “hibernation in a dish” to study how animals adapt to the cold, National Institutes of Health)

The team determined that the membrane quickly heated to above the 70 degrees Celsius required to deteriorate the cell walls of E. coli bacteria.

(Novel Technology Uses Bacteria for Cleaning Water, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Dementia, due to significant cerebrovascular disease, with a stepwise deteriorating course and a 'patchy' distribution of neurologic deficits.

(Multi-Infarct Dementia, NIH CRISP Thesaurus)

In addition, the neurons grown in the 3D brain-like tissue maintained stable metabolic activity for up to five weeks, while the health of neurons grown in the gel-only environment began to deteriorate within 24 hours.

(Bioengineers create functional 3D brain-like tissue, NIH)

However, such a speedy charge rate would require a battery to rapidly take in 400 kilowatts of energy, a feat that current vehicles cannot accomplish because it risks lithium plating (the formation of metallic lithium around the anode), which would severely deteriorate battery life.

(Modern Battery Design Can Charge Electric Car in 10 Minutes, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)