worsener

English

Etymology

worsen +‎ -er

Noun

worsener (plural worseners)

1. One who or that which worsens (things), makes things worse.
   • 1911, Matilda Betham-Edwards, French Men, Women and Books: A Series of Nineteenth-century Studies/ by Miss Betham-Edwards, page 89:

     Make-believe worseners of human nature and human life, Wertherian, Byronic or à la Musset have given way to the trio of the blackening pen, Flaubert, Zola, Maupassant, and later on their heels comes a wit as brilliant and versatile as Voltaire's, but without Voltaire's hopefulness and faith in humanity — Anatole France. Balzac's work has immensely enriched the intellectual capital of the world, has it made the multitude, the "rascal many," happier or better?

   • 1974, The Journal of Primal Therapy:

     But those that seek to put all that to rights are very often merely the perpetrators and worseners of the situation. Neurosis has a long arm. Perhaps there are no solutions or perhaps only personal ones. I think it's too late to "save" the world. Certainly Primal Therapy won't do it. So all that is left is to feel how nobody saved you. Then perhaps you'll be able to live more comfortably with the larger reality.

2. (especially in medicine) One who or that which worsens (internally), becomes worse, deteriorates in condition.
   • 1963, American Journal of Public Health: JPH:

     [There] is no suggestion that they were treated differently, for example, from the “worseners” or those who remained the same in the same groups. In reviewing the characteristics of improvers as compared with worseners, a multivariate analysis (to be reported on at a later date) shows no cluster of predictive variables among the almost 100 characteristics recorded. Our data then do not permit prediction of self-care change. It was noted clinically that “improvers” required less nursing care [...]

   • 2013, B. Angrist, G. D. Burrows, M. Lader, Recent Advances in Neuropsycho-Pharmacology: Selected Papers from the 12th Congress of the Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum, Göteborg, Sweden, 22-26 June 1980, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 44:

     Thirteen patients improved one point or more (improvers), 18 patients worsened in psychosis one point or more (worseners) and 14 did not change (nonchangers). Patients who improved were able to focus better on the interview, were less hindered by delusions, hallucinated less, were more trusting and were less anxious. d-Amphetamine blood levels were identical for improvers and worseners. The preinfusion psychosis ratings were significantly different among the three groups: [...]

Anagrams

• Woerners