deteriorate

What it means

1. transitiveTo make worse; to make inferior in quality or value; to impair.

   to deteriorate the mind

   1 more example

   The art of war, like every other art, ecclesiastical architecture alone excepted, was greatly deteriorated during those years of general degradation[…]

   1829, Robert Southey, “(please specify the page)”, in Sir Thomas More: or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC

2. intransitiveTo grow worse; to be impaired in quality; to degenerate.

   It was turning into an abysmal afternoon for Newcastle and it deteriorated further when Tiote saw red for his challenge on Jon Ashton.

   2011 January 8, Paul Fletcher, “Stevenage 3 - 1 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 29 Feb 2012

   3 more examples

   During this fine run through Fife the weather had deteriorated rapidly, and as we passed Wormit and came onto the Tay Bridge heavy rain clouds were piled over the sea.

   1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 7

   The condition of the tunnel continued to deteriorate, aggravated by the vibration from the heavy traffic, and stories of trains emerging with dislodged bricks on their roofs are probably not exaggerated.

   1959 August 28, J. E. Norris, “The Worcester & Hereford Railway—2”, in Railway Magazine, page 533

   Among other work done, according to the letter: CPR replaced the bottom of a deteriorating stair column base with hollow steel structural sections; conducted exploratory demolition on the underside of an eave that required “removal and reconstruction”; and removed all loose “cracked, spalled, deteriorated, and delaminated concrete” and damaged stucco from the underside of balcony eaves on 114 of the building’s 136 units, the letter said.

   2021 July 2, Eliott C. McLaughlin, Alta Spells, Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman, “Firm held off on repairs because of stability issues in months before Surfside building collapse”, in CNN, archived from the original on 22 Nov 2021

In a sentence

to deteriorate the mind

Where it comes from

1. Latindēterior“worse”
2. Late Latindēteriorō
3. Late Latindēteriorātus
4. Englishdeteriorate

Learned borrowing from Late Latin dēteriorātus, perfect passive participle of Late Latin dēteriorō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), further from Latin dēterior (“worse”). Cognate with French détériorer.