overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

deteriorate.

To make worse; to make inferior in quality or value; to impair.

11 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/dɪˈtɪə.ɹɪə.ɹeɪt/Received-Pronunciation/dɪˈtɪə.ɹɪ.eɪt/Received-Pronunciation, proscribed/dɪˈtɪɹ.iə.ɹeɪt/General-American/diˈtɪɹ.iə.ɹeɪt/General-American
  1. To make worse; to make inferior in quality or value; to impair.

    transitive
  2. To grow worse; to be impaired in quality; to degenerate.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

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.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

deteriorate has 11 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

deteriorate studiodeteriorate workshello, deteriorate

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.