deterior-, deteriorat- +

Dementia occurring in persons chronically addicted to alcohol.

Dementia in this case is an organic mental disorder characterized by a general loss of intellectual abilities involving impairment of memory, judgment, and abstract thinking; as well as, changes in personality.

The breakdown of materials by microbial action.

A description of organic compounds that are able to be decomposed by bacteria and other micro-organisms; such as, the constituents of sewage, as compared with non-biodeteriorable compounds; such as, most plastics.

1. To become or to make something worse in quality, value, or strength.
2. To diminish or to impair in quality, character, or value.
3. To grow worse in function or condition; to degenerate.
4. To weaken or to disintegrate; to decay.

1. A gradual decline, as in quality, serviceability, or vigor.
2. The process of becoming worse.
3. In psychiatry, progressive impairment in mental functioning without the implication of irreversibility.
3. Depreciation or loss of value of real property due to physical wear and tear.
4. In medicine, the process or condition of becoming worse.

Impairment of the ability to maintain one's level of concentration despite apparent desire to do so and a lack of competing thoughts that explain ordinary inattentiveness.

Worse state or quality; inferiority.

The clinical picture in which a psychotic patient becomes apathetic and shows a loss of interest in his appearance, environment, and social adjustment.

A slowly progressing decline in physical and mental health, apparently due to natural causes resulting from the processes of aging.