Deterioration is a steady worsening in condition. Rapid deterioration.
It describes a process rather than a state, which is why it is the word used in medical notes. Deterioration in a building is nearly always water getting somewhere it should not.
1noundeteriorationA steady worsening in condition.
“The deterioration over the last fortnight was obvious to everybody.”
deterioration is a worsening.
Latin deteriorare means to make worse, from deterior, worse.
French
détérioration
English, today
deterioration
French détérioration; morphologically deteriorate + -ion.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA