Definition

1. Verb:
   • To become less favorable, desirable, or satisfactory; to decline in quality, condition, or state: "get worse" means to undergo a change for the worse, to deteriorate.
   • To become more severe or intense: Often used to describe a situation, condition, or state that increases in negativity or difficulty.

Usage and Examples

• Verb:
  • The weather is expected to get worse this evening. (The atmospheric conditions are predicted to deteriorate.)
  • If you don't rest, your cold will get worse. (Your illness will become more severe.)
  • The economic situation got worse after the policy change. (The state of the economy declined.)

Advanced Usage

• "to get progressively worse": to decline in stages or continuously over time.
  • Her eyesight has been getting progressively worse.
• "to get worse before it gets better": a common saying indicating that a situation often deteriorates initially during a recovery or improvement process.
  • The patient's fever might get worse before it gets better.

Variants and Related Words

• Worsen (verb): A more formal synonym for "get worse."
  • The conflict continued to worsen.
• Deteriorate (verb): To become progressively worse. (As referenced: "he relapsed" is an example of health deteriorating.)
  • The old building's structure is deteriorating.
• Decline (verb): To decrease in quality, power, or amount; often used similarly.
  • His health began to decline rapidly.

Synonyms

• Deteriorate: To become impaired or inferior in quality.
• Decline: To move to a worse state.
• Degenerate: To decline or deteriorate physically, mentally, or morally.
• Go downhill: An informal idiom meaning to get worse.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Go down: (Informal) Can sometimes be used to mean deteriorate, especially in quality or condition.
  • The neighborhood has really gone down in the last decade.
• Fall apart: To disintegrate or deteriorate, often structurally or figuratively.
  • Their plan started to fall apart when the funding was cut.

Related Idioms

• Go from bad to worse: To deteriorate from a poor state to an even poorer one.
  • After he lost his job, things went from bad to worse.
• Take a turn for the worse: To suddenly become worse, especially regarding health or a situation.
  • Overnight, the patient's condition took a turn for the worse.

Verb

1. deteriorate in health
   • he relapsed