Adjacent Words

Decrement definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DECREMENT, n.
1. Decrease; waste; the state of becoming less gradually.
Rocks and mountains suffer a continual decrement.
2. The quantity lost by gradual diminution, or waste.
3. In heraldry, the wane of the moon.
4. In crystalography, a successive diminution of the lamens of molecules, applied to the faces of the primitive form, by which the secondary forms are supposed to be produced.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the amount by which something decreases [syn: decrease, decrement] [ant: increase, increment]
2: a process of becoming smaller or shorter [syn: decrease, decrement] [ant: growth, increase, increment]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Latin decrementum, from decrescere Date: 1610 1. a gradual decrease in quality or quantity 2. a. the quantity lost by diminution or waste b. the amount of decrease (as of a variable) • decremental adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 Physics the ratio of the amplitudes in successive cycles of a damped oscillation. 2 the amount lost by diminution or waste. 3 the act of decreasing. Etymology: L decrementum (as DECREASE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Decrement Dec"re*ment, n. [L. decrementum, fr. decrescere. See Decrease.] 1. The state of becoming gradually less; decrease; diminution; waste; loss. Twit me with the decrements of my pendants. --Ford. Rocks, mountains, and the other elevations of the earth suffer a continual decrement. --Woodward. 2. The quantity lost by gradual diminution or waste; -- opposed to increment. 3. (Crystallog.) A name given by Ha["u]y to the successive diminution of the layers of molecules, applied to the faces of the primitive form, by which he supposed the secondary forms to be produced. 4. (Math.) The quantity by which a variable is diminished. Equal decrement of life. (a) The decrease of life in a group of persons in which the assumed law of mortality is such that of a given large number of persons, all being now of the same age, an equal number shall die each consecutive year. (b) The decrease of life in a group of persons in which the assumed law of mortality is such that the ratio of those dying in a year to those living through the year is constant, being independent of the age of the persons.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Decrease, diminution, lessening, waste, loss.

Moby Thesaurus

abatement, ablation, abridgment, alleviation, attenuation, attrition, consumption, contraction, corrosion, curtailment, cut, cutting, dampening, damping, decrease, decrescence, deduction, deflation, deliquescence, depletion, depreciation, depression, derogation, detraction, diminishment, diminution, dip, disparagement, dissipation, dissolution, drain, dying, dying off, erosion, evaporation, exhaustion, expenditure, extenuation, extraction, fade-out, impairment, impoverishment, languishment, leakage, lessening, letup, loss, lowering, miniaturization, minus, mitigation, reduction, relaxation, remission, retraction, retrenchment, sagging, scaling down, shortening, shrinkage, simplicity, subtraction, truncation, using, using up, wastage, waste, weakening, wear and tear, wearing, wearing away