1
as in to worsen
to become worse or of less value
the garden slowly deteriorated after months of neglect
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to degrade
to lower in character, dignity, or quality
childish name-calling that merely deteriorates what should be a serious discussion on an important issue
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of deteriorate
But instead of improving, L’s mental health deteriorated.
—
Duaa Eldeib, ProPublica, 10 Sep. 2025
In the case of the Smurl family, the patriarch’s deteriorating mental health was speculated as the culprit for what was happening at the house.
—Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 10 Sep. 2025
Richards remembers that the relationship began to deteriorate during Sheen’s time on Two and a Half Men.
—Lizzie Hyman, PEOPLE, 10 Sep. 2025
This shift suggests that public patience has eroded as prices remain high, with a strong majority concluding that conditions are deteriorating rather than improving.
—Martha McHardy, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for deteriorate
Duaa Eldeib, ProPublica, 10 Sep. 2025
In the case of the Smurl family, the patriarch’s deteriorating mental health was speculated as the culprit for what was happening at the house.
—Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 10 Sep. 2025
Richards remembers that the relationship began to deteriorate during Sheen’s time on Two and a Half Men.
—Lizzie Hyman, PEOPLE, 10 Sep. 2025
This shift suggests that public patience has eroded as prices remain high, with a strong majority concluding that conditions are deteriorating rather than improving.
—Martha McHardy, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for deteriorate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deteriorate
Verb
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Anger has been brewing in the Himalayan nation for years about the country’s worsening youth unemployment and lack of economic opportunities, exacerbated by what many view as a growing disparity between the country’s elite and regular people.—
Sugam Pokharel,
CNN Money,
12 Sep. 2025
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Pink Light takes the inspiring sports drama genre, where athletes have to overcome obstacles in their sport and personal lives, in a new direction as Browne tackles the worsening debate around trans athletes in the media and political spaces.—
Etan Vlessing,
HollywoodReporter,
12 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Today’s batteries depend on scarce resources like lithium and cobalt and degrade over time.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
10 Sep. 2025
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These perform well at low to medium heat, but begin to degrade around 500 °F, potentially releasing harmful fumes that can pose health risks.—
Katie Rosenhouse,
Southern Living,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
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However, the timing of Wong and Ballmer's investments—and the urgency that Aspiration reportedly felt to continue paying Leonard even as the rest of the business crumbled—raises eyebrows.—
Bryan Toporek,
Forbes.com,
15 Sep. 2025
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These figures are in pass protection, meaning that the line has crumbled under pass rushers pretty often with Burrow taking snaps.—
James Brizuela,
MSNBC Newsweek,
15 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Foreign powers such as Russia and China, which challenge America and its allies from Europe to the Middle East to Taiwan and the South China Sea, have long been accused of exploiting such divisions through disinformation campaigns that inflame tensions and weaken confidence in American governance.—
Amir Daftari,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 Sep. 2025
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But around the equinoxes, the natural buffer weakens.—
Daisy Dobrijevic,
Space.com,
12 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Ross, one of the Democrats to decline AIPAC money, is a relative centrist, according to a GovTrack scorecard, while Foushee and McGarvey, Kentucky’s only House Democrat, are in the middle of the pack ideologically.—
David Sivak,
The Washington Examiner,
12 Sep. 2025
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That has declined over the years because of budget constraints.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
11 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The additional time exposed to harsh radiation is, not surprisingly, corrupting JunoCam's images.—
Stephen Clark,
ArsTechnica,
12 Sep. 2025
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The baffling Windows 11 update bug that corrupted SSDs now appears to be linked to storage drives running pre-release firmware.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
9 Sep. 2025
Verb
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To manage the thousands of people who descend daily, operators have studied visitors’ behavior and engineered their parks to move people around without anyone realizing they’re being nudged.—
Bianca Bosker,
The Atlantic,
14 Sep. 2025
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In September and October, the core of the Milky Way is visible as soon as twilight descends.—
Stephanie Vermillion,
Travel + Leisure,
14 Sep. 2025
Verb
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But with Burrow now looking likely to miss the majority of the regular season, those chances look severely diminished.—
Ben Morse,
CNN Money,
16 Sep. 2025
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One potential problem with this set-up is that the SCORE Act diminishes the role of state law in subject areas traditionally governed by states.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
16 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Deteriorate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deteriorate. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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