degringolade

de•grin•go•lade (dey-grang-guh-LAHD)  n

Definition:
a rapid decline, deterioration, or collapse (of a situation)

Origin:
from French, from dégringoler (to tumble down, fall sharply), from Middle French desgringueler, from des- (de-) + gringueler (to tumble), from Middle Dutch crinkelen (to curl)

Related:
Synonyms: atrophy, corrosion, crumbling, decaying, decline, decomposition, degradation, depreciation, dilapidation, disintegration,  disrepair, downfall, downturn, fall, rotting, ruin, spoiling, worsening


Sentence Examples:
• At Rome, in the keenest time of her degringolade, when there was gambling even in the holy temples, great ladies (does not Lucian tell us?) did not scruple to squander all they had upon unguents from Arabia. -The Works of Max Beerbohm

• O, what a degringolade! The great career I had mapp'd out for me— Nipp'd i' the bud. -Title: Seven Men, Max Beerbohm

• As she sat in the box looking on at this gross impertinence, she seemed to herself to be watching herself after a long degringolade, which had brought her, not to the gutter, but to the smart restaurant, the smart music-hall, the smart night club; the smart everything else that is beyond the borderland of even a lax society.  -The Woman With The Fan, Robert Hichens

The Storyline
It wasn't always thus for him. Before the debilitating depression that precipitated his degringolade, he was once a respected teacher.

Sources: Answers.com

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