Before then, he says, tax dodging was "a shameful activity indulged in by a spivvy minority", but then there was "a gradual moral collapse.

For example, a star is born through the gradual gravitational collapse of a cloud of interstellar matter.

Dwayne Hoover is a wealthy businessman who owns much of Midland City, but is mentally unstable and is undergoing a gradual mental collapse.

In September, the Peruvian media broadcast a videotape apparently showing Mr. Montesinos bribing a Peruvian congressman, starting a gradual collapse of the Fujimori government.

In the story, they personify the intellect-their withdrawal from the world under the leadership of John Galt parallels the world's gradual collapse.

Nevertheless, after this change of position some serious structural problems concerning the house's foundations caused the gradual collapse of the building.

With the airways closed or obstructed, this will lead to a gradual collapse of the lungs.

The period also saw a gradual collapse of the cooperative credit system.

The very agony of the common state, its gradual collapse, or an unruly break-up would turn against all citizens.

The same period saw the gradual collapse of the Funj sultanate, leaving the Shilluk in complete control of the White Nile and its trade routes.