deteriorating
Americanadjective
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becoming worse or inferior in condition, character, quality, value, etc..
A deteriorating house, whatever the cause, will have an adverse effect on your real estate investment.
Officials have warned of a deteriorating security situation in the disputed territory.
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disintegrating or wearing away.
If what you have underneath is fabric or fiberglass, I’d be concerned that deteriorating paint is letting ultraviolet rays do their worst to your aircraft.
Other Word Forms
- undeteriorating adjective
Etymology
Origin of deteriorating
First recorded in 1680–90; deteriorate ( def. ) + -ing 2 ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The collective melodrama plays out against a background of deteriorating social conditions and political unrest.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026
On Wednesday, the US urged its citizens to reconsider travelling to the country because of the deteriorating security situation.
From BBC • Apr. 11, 2026
The New York Times interviewed doctors there and reported last week that “rapidly deteriorating conditions at hospitals and clinics across Cuba were causing deaths that would otherwise be preventable.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026
In a sign of how quickly the long-term outlook is deteriorating, that figure increased by nearly $7 trillion in just the past year.
From Barron's • Mar. 31, 2026
I learned so much so fast, and now my mind is deteriorating rapidly.
From "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
