| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| deteriorate |
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| SYLLABICATION: | de·te·ri·o·rate |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  d -tîr  - -r t |
| VERB: | Inflected forms: de·te·ri·o·rat·ed, de·te·ri·o·rat·ing, de·te·ri·o·rates
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | To diminish or impair in quality, character, or value: Time and neglect had deteriorated the property. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To grow worse; degenerate: The weather deteriorated overnight. His health had deteriorated while he was in prison. 2. To weaken or disintegrate; decay: The nation's highways are deteriorating at a rapid pace. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Late Latin dteri rre, dterirt-, from Latin dterior, worse. See de- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | de·teri·o·ration —NOUN
de·teri·o·rative —ADJECTIVE
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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