word

deterioration?

I've come across "degrade" and "become degraded"... I wonder if it's correct to say "He was merely degrading " meaning that the person was changing into a disabled one?

Hmmm. 'Degrading' sounds too much like an adjective rather than a verb. You could say, instead, 'he was in the process of degrading' or 'he was becoming degraded.' But degraded has the connotation of somehow demoted or abased. I still like my first suggestion 'deteriorated' better.

regressed

The only problem with 'regressed' is that it has the connotation of going backwards somehow, and I don't think that's what Smarty11 has in mind, according to the o.p.

http://onelook.com/?w=*&loc=revfp2&clue=changing%2C+from+normal+state+to+awful+

deteriorating, going to pot, going to hell in a handbasket, going crazy, going insane, hitting rock bottom, going rotten at the core, going postal, going mental, falling apart, flipping out, going psycho, going batshit crazy. unravelling, losing it, losing your mind, losing all contact with reality, crashing and burning.

"He was merely degrading "



How a word sounds does not determine what part of speech it is, Merry.

He was surfing.

She was dancing.

They were running.

Are those adjectives too?

It's correct but it's not natural English.

'His condition was degrading' is okay.

He was going downhill [fast/quickly].

"degrading" isn't usually used for mental or physical decay, which is what I think the OP was looking for. Rather it's a term you use for something that you think is beneath you (or whoever you're talking about), socially, economically. or morally. If you're a high executive in a company, say, and all of a sudden you're reassigned to cleaning toilet stalls, you'd think that was degrading.

No, I don't think so.

You would have to say something like "deteriorating in physical and mental health".
Or, "sinking, both physically and mentally, into ill-health".

Once we get past our early twenties, our bodies start a degenerative process...