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Medicine vocabulary · Treatments and Procedures

Deteriorate

Meaning in medicine, with examples

/dɪˈtɪriəreɪt/verbCommon term

In medicine, deteriorate means: To become worse, especially when a patient's condition or vital signs get worse over time.

In Turkish: kötüleşmek, ağırlaşmak, kötüye gitmek

How it is used

Very common in hospital English: 'the patient is deteriorating', 'a deteriorating patient'. Early warning scores such as NEWS2 help nurses spot deterioration and call a doctor. The opposite is improve; 'stable' means no change.

Example sentences

  1. He deteriorated overnight and was moved to intensive care.

  2. Call me straight away if her breathing deteriorates.

Common collocations

  • rapidly deteriorate
  • deteriorating patient
  • clinical deterioration
  • continue to deteriorate
  • stableNot changing or getting worse, especially when the vital signs and general condition stay within a safe range.
  • monitorTo check a patient, a sign or a test result regularly over a period of time to see whether it changes.
  • intensive care unitA hospital unit with special equipment and highly trained staff for critically ill patients who need close monitoring or organ support, such as a ventilator.
  • vital signsThe basic body measurements checked to see how ill a patient is: temperature, pulse, breathing rate and blood pressure, and often oxygen level.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Treatments and Procedures

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.