Adjacent Words

Decrease definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DECREASE, v.i. [L. To grow.] To become less; to be diminished gradually, in extent, bulk, quantity, or amount, or in strength, quality, or excellence; as, the days decrease in length from June to December.
He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3.
DECREASE, v.t. To lessen; to make smaller in dimensions, amount, quality or excellence, _c; to diminish gradually or by small deductions; as, extravagance decreases the means of charity; every payment decreases a debt; intemperance decreases the strength and powers of life.
DECREASE, n.
1. A becoming less; gradual diminution; decay; as a decrease of revenue; a decrease of strength.
2. The wane of the moon; the gradual diminution of the visible face of the moon from the full to the change.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a change downward; "there was a decrease in his temperature as the fever subsided"; "there was a sharp drop-off in sales" [syn: decrease, lessening, drop-off] [ant: increase]
2: a process of becoming smaller or shorter [syn: decrease, decrement] [ant: growth, increase, increment]
3: the amount by which something decreases [syn: decrease, decrement] [ant: increase, increment]
4: the act of decreasing or reducing something [syn: decrease, diminution, reduction, step-down] [ant: increase, step-up] v
1: decrease in size, extent, or range; "The amount of homework decreased towards the end of the semester"; "The cabin pressure fell dramatically"; "her weight fell to under a hundred pounds"; "his voice fell to a whisper" [syn: decrease, diminish, lessen, fall] [ant: increase]
2: make smaller; "He decreased his staff" [syn: decrease, lessen, minify] [ant: increase]

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (decreased; decreasing) Etymology: Middle English decreessen, from Anglo-French decrestre, from Latin decrescere, from de- + crescere to grow — more at crescent Date: 14th century intransitive verb to grow progressively less (as in size, amount, number, or intensity) transitive verb to cause to decrease • decreasingly adverb Synonyms: decrease, lessen, diminish, reduce, abate, dwindle mean to grow or make less. decrease suggests a progressive decline in size, amount, numbers, or intensity <slowly decreased the amount of pressure>. lessen suggests a decline in amount rather than in number <has been unable to lessen her debt>. diminish emphasizes a perceptible loss and implies its subtraction from a total <his visual acuity has diminished>. reduce implies a bringing down or lowering <you must reduce your caloric intake>. abate implies a reducing of something excessive or oppressive in force or amount <the storm abated>. dwindle implies progressive lessening and is applied to things growing visibly smaller <their provisions dwindled slowly>. II. noun Date: 14th century 1. the process of decreasing 2. an amount of diminution ; reduction

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.tr. & intr. make or become smaller or fewer. --n. 1 the act or an instance of decreasing. 2 the amount by which a thing decreases. Derivatives: decreasingly adv. Etymology: ME f. OF de(s)creiss-, pres. stem of de(s)creistre ult. f. L decrescere (as DE-, crescere cret- grow)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Decrease De*crease", v. t. To cause to grow less; to diminish gradually; as, extravagance decreases one's means. That might decrease their present store. --Prior.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Decrease De*crease", n. [OE. decrees, OF. decreis, fr. decreistre. See Decrease, v.] 1. A becoming less; gradual diminution; decay; as, a decrease of revenue or of strength. 2. The wane of the moon. --Bacon.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Decrease De*crease", v. i. [imp. & p. p. Decreased; p. pr. & vb. n. Decreasing.] [OE. decrecen, fr. OF. decreistre, F. d['e]cro[^i]tre, or from the OF. noun (see Decrease, n.), fr. L. decrescere to grow less; de + crescere to grow. See Crescent, and cf. Increase.] To grow less, -- opposed to increase; to be diminished gradually, in size, degree, number, duration, etc., or in strength, quality, or excellence; as, they days decrease in length from June to December. He must increase, but I must decrease. --John iii. 30. Syn: To Decrease, Diminish. Usage: Things usually decrease or fall off by degrees, and from within, or through some cause which is imperceptible; as, the flood decreases; the cold decreases; their affection has decreased. Things commonly diminish by an influence from without, or one which is apparent; as, the army was diminished by disease; his property is diminishing through extravagance; their affection has diminished since their separation their separation. The turn of thought, however, is often such that these words may be interchanged. The olive leaf, which certainly them told The flood decreased. --Drayton. Crete's ample fields diminish to our eye; Before the Boreal blasts the vessels fly. --Pope.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(decreased) 1. When something decreases or when you decrease it, it becomes less in quantity, size, or intensity. Population growth is decreasing by 1.4% each year... The number of independent firms decreased from 198 to 96... Raw-steel production by the nation's mills decreased 2.1% last week... Since 1945 air forces have decreased in size... Gradually decrease the amount of vitamin C you are taking... We've got stable labor, decreasing interest rates, low oil prices. VERB: V by amount, V from/to amount, V amount, V in n, V n, V-ing 2. A decrease in the quantity, size, or intensity of something is a reduction in it. ...a decrease in the number of young people out of work... Bank base rates have fallen from 10 per cent to 6 per cent–a decrease of 40 per cent. N-COUNT: oft N in/of n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. n. Diminish (gradually), lessen, wane, decline, ebb, subside, dwindle, contract, abate, grow less. II. v. a. Diminish, lessen, retrench, curtail, reduce, lower, make less. III. n. Diminution, lessening, decrement, reduction, wane or waning, declension, decline, ebb, ebbing, subsidence, contraction, abatement.

Moby Thesaurus

abate, abatement, abbreviate, abbreviation, ablate, ablation, abrade, abridge, abstract, allay, alleviate, apportion, astriction, astringency, attrition, bate, be eaten away, bottleneck, calibrate, calibrated, cervix, circumscribe, circumscription, clip, close, coarct, coarctation, compact, compactedness, compaction, compress, compression, compressure, concentrate, concentration, condensation, condense, consolidate, consolidation, constrict, constriction, constringe, constringency, consume, consume away, consumption, contract, contraction, contracture, corrode, count, cramp, crumble, curtail, curtailment, cut, cut back, cut down, cutting, damp, dampen, de-escalate, de-escalation, decline, decrement, deduct, deflate, deliquesce, deplete, depletion, depreciate, depreciation, depress, derogate, derogation, detract, detraction, die away, differentiate, diminish, diminuendo, diminution, dip, disparage, disparagement, dissipate, dissipation, dive, divide, downgrade, drain, draw, draw in, draw together, dribble away, drop, drop off, dwindle, dwindling, ease, ease off, ease up, eat away, ebb, erode, erosion, evaporation, exhaustion, expenditure, extract, extraction, fall, fall away, fall off, falling off, file away, fix, gradational, grade, gradual, graduate, graduated, hierarchic, hourglass, hourglass figure, impair, impairment, impoverishment, increase, isthmus, knit, knitting, languish, leach, leakage, lessen, lessening, let up, lighten, lower, lowering, measure, melt away, mitigate, narrow, narrow place, narrowing, neck, number, parcel, pare, peter out, plummet, plunge, progressive, pucker, pucker up, puckering, purify, purse, pursing, quantify, quantize, rate, rebate, recede, reduce, reduction, refine, regular, remission, remove, retraction, retrench, retrenchment, roll back, rub away, run low, sag, scalar, scale down, shade off, shorten, shortening, shrink, shrinkage, shrinking, shrivel up, simplify, sink, slacken, slackening, solidification, solidify, squander, step down, strangle, stranglement, strangulate, strangulation, striction, stricture, subduct, subside, subsidence, subtract, systole, tail off, take away, take from, taper, taper off, thin, thin out, trim, truncation, tune down, using, using up, wane, wasp waist, wastage, waste, waste away, wear, wear away, wearing, wearing away, weed, withdraw, wrinkle, wrinkling