| Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition. 1995. |
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deteriorate |
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| VERB: | 1. To become or cause to become rotten or unsound: break down, decay, decompose, disintegrate, molder, putrefy, rot, spoil, taint, turn. Idioms: go bad, go to pot, go to seed. See BETTER, THRIVE. 2. To become lower in quality, character, or condition: atrophy, decline, degenerate, descend, retrograde, sink, worsen. Idioms: go bad, go to pot, go to seed , go to the dogs. See BETTER. 3. To lose strength or power: decline, degenerate, fade, fail, flag2, languish, sink, wane, waste (away), weaken. Informal : fizzle (out). Idioms: go downhill, hit the skids. See INCREASE, STRONG.
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| Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition. Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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