Devolving and Lapsing

noun

• A failure to maintain a higher state.
  • synonyms: backsliding, lapse, relapse, relapsing, reversion, reverting

verb

• Pass into a specified state or condition.
  • usage: "He sank into nirvana"
  • synonyms: sink, pass, lapse
• End, at least for a long time.
  • usage: "The correspondence lapsed"
  • synonyms: lapse
• Drop to a lower level, as in one's morals or standards.
  • synonyms: lapse, backslide
• Go back to bad behavior.
  • usage: "Those who recidivate are often minor criminals"
  • synonyms: relapse, lapse, recidivate, regress, retrogress, fall back
• Let slip.
  • usage: "He lapsed his membership"
  • synonyms: lapse
• Pass by.
  • usage: "three years elapsed"
  • synonyms: elapse, lapse, pass, slip by, glide by, slip away, go by, slide by, go along