Worse, "Shadow" gradually devolves into an angry rant that drops all pretense of trying to create a fair or nuanced portrait of Mr. Naipaul.

This Act set the conditions for the breakup of large estates and gradually devolved to rural landholders, and tenants' ownership of the lands.

As the business center of the city moved gradually westward, the hotel decayed and gradually devolved into an SRO hotel housing long-term, low income residents and gained a reputation for crime and being unsafe.

Left to its own devices, without clear instructions from above, NASA gradually devolved into a program that would maintain profits, jobs, and perquisites.

It is gradually devolving some of its decision-making powers to the Pan African Parliament.

Junior gradually devolves from a thug to a bitter, angry sociopath, suffering from a brain tumor disguising itself as migraines.

After the states of China were unified by Qin Shi Huang in 221 BC, surnames gradually devolved to the lower classes and the difference between xing and shi blurred.

In many states, the militias gradually devolved until existing almost exclusively on paper by the 1840s.

The federal government will fully fund the expansion of Medicaid initially, with some of the financial responsibility gradually devolving back to the states by 2020.

The Iron Law of Oligarchy (see Robert Michels) asserts that democracies gradually devolve towards particracy.