impairment

impairment
    n 1: the occurrence of a change for the worse [syn: {damage},
         {harm}, {impairment}]
    2: a symptom of reduced quality or strength [syn:
       {deterioration}, {impairment}]
    3: the condition of being unable to perform as a consequence of
       physical or mental unfitness; "reading disability"; "hearing
       impairment" [syn: {disability}, {disablement}, {handicap},
       {impairment}]
    4: damage that results in a reduction of strength or quality
    5: the act of making something futile and useless (as by
       routine) [syn: {stultification}, {constipation},
       {impairment}, {deadening}]
    

Impairment \Im*pair"ment\, n. [OE. enpeirement, OF. empirement.]
   The state, act, or process of being impaired; injury. "The
   impairment of my health." --Dryden.
   [1913 Webster]
    

72 Moby Thesaurus words for "impairment":
      adulteration, attrition, curtailment, cut, cutting, damage,
      debilitation, decrease, decrement, defectibility, defectiveness,
      deficiency, depletion, depreciation, derogation, deterioration,
      detraction, detriment, diminution, dip, disadvantage,
      disparagement, drawback, enfeeblement, erroneousness, extraction,
      fallibility, faultiness, flaw, handicap, harm, hurt, immaturity,
      imperfection, impurity, inaccuracy, inadequacy, inadequateness,
      incompleteness, inexactitude, inexactness, injury, lack, lessening,
      liability, loss, loss of ground, marring, mediocrity, mischief,
      patchiness, prejudice, reduction, remission, retraction,
      retrenchment, shortage, shortcoming, shortening, shrinkage,
      sketchiness, step backward, truncation, undermining, undevelopment,
      unevenness, unperfectedness, unsoundness, vitiation, want,
      weakening, worsening