deterior

Latin

Etymology

From Old Latin *dēter, from dē.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [deːˈtɛ.ri.ɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [deˈtɛː.ri.or]

Adjective

dēterior (comparative, neuter dēterius, positive *dēter, superlative dēterrimus); third declension

1. worse, lower, inferior, poorer

   Synonym: peior, nequior

   • 166 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Andria 192–193:

     SĪMŌ: Tum sīquis magistrum cēpit ad eam rem improbum, / ipsum animum aegrōtum ad dēteriōrem partem plērumque applicat.

     Then if someone gets an evil teacher for that purpose, it usually turns his own lovesick mind toward the worse path.

   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de bello Gallico 1.36:

     Magnam Caesarem iniuriam facere, qui suo adventu vectigalia sibi deteriora faceret.

     Caesar perpetrated a great injustice against him, as by his coming Caesar had lowered his revenues.

Declension

Third-declension comparative adjective.

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	dēterior	dēterius		dēteriōrēs	dēteriōra
genitive	dēteriōris			dēteriōrum
dative	dēteriōrī			dēteriōribus
accusative	dēteriōrem	dēterius		dēteriōrēs dēteriōrīs	dēteriōra
ablative	dēteriōre dēteriōrī			dēteriōribus
vocative	dēterior	dēterius		dēteriōrēs	dēteriōra

Derived terms

• dēteriorō

References

• “deterior”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “deterior”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “deterior”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to find one's circumstances altered for the better (the worse): meliore (deteriore) condicione esse, uti
    
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “deteriorate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Spanish

Adjective

deterior m or f (masculine and feminine plural deteriores)

1. (uncommon) shabby, shoddy, janky

Further reading

• “deterior”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025