1. to fail to maintain adequate physiological or psychological function; to break down or deteriorate in health or mental state
Usage: medical/psychological term; often used in clinical contexts
2. (in music or acoustics) to reverse or undo compensation applied to a signal or system
Usage: technical; audio/engineering context

Examples

• After years of managing his condition, the patient began to decompensate when he stopped taking his medication.
• Her mental health started to decompensate under the stress of the new job.
• The heart patient's condition decompensated rapidly, requiring immediate hospitalization.
• Without proper treatment, some psychiatric conditions can decompensate into crisis.
• The system will decompensate if the load exceeds its capacity.
• Engineers had to decompensate the audio signal to restore the original frequencies.