decline
Plural: declines
Noun
- change toward something smaller or lower
- a condition inferior to an earlier condition; a gradual falling off from a better state
- a gradual decrease; as of stored charge or current
- a downward slope or bend
- Downward movement, fall.
- A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.
- A deterioration of condition; a weakening or worsening.
- A reduction or diminution of activity, prevalence or quantity.
- The act of declining or refusing something.
Verb
Verb Forms: declined, declining, declines
- To refuse to accept; to decrease in quantity or quality.
- grow worse
- refuse to accept
- show unwillingness towards
- "he declined to join the group on a hike"
- grow smaller
- go down
- "The roof declines here"
- go down in value
- inflect for number, gender, case, etc.,
- "in many languages, speakers decline nouns, pronouns, and adjectives"
- To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
- To become weaker or worse.
- To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
- To cause to decrease or diminish.
- To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.
- To choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain.
- To inflect for case, number, gender, and the like.
- To recite all the different declined forms of (a word): to recite its declension.
- To run through from first to last; to recite in order as though declining a noun.
- To reject a penalty against the opposing team, usually because the result of accepting it would benefit the non-penalized team less than the preceding play.
Examples
- Educational standards are on the decline.
- He had to DECLINE the temptation of a short word, opting for a longer, riskier play.
- He has experienced a sudden decline in his health.
- My health declined in winter.
- On reflection I think I will decline your generous offer.
- Population decline is a major concern.
- The country's global reputation is in decline.
- The dollar has declined rapidly since 2001.
- The team chose to decline the fifteen-yard penalty because their receiver had caught the ball for a thirty-yard gain.
- Town-centre retailers have seen a decline in footfall.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English declinen, and ultimately Latin declīnō (“to bend, turn aside, deflect, inflect, decline”, from de (“down”) + clīnō (“to bend, to incline”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (English lean). The senses arrived from two separate pathways in Middle English:
* The grammatical sense came from Old English declīnian, which was borrowed directly from the Latin etymon.
* All senses except the grammatical sense were derived from those of Old French decliner. Old French itself borrowed the verb from Latin.
Synonyms
correct, decay, declension, declination, declivity, descent, diminution, downslope, fall, go down, pass up, refuse, reject, slump, turn down, wane, worsen, declense
Antonyms
Scrabble Score: 10
decline: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Worddecline: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
decline: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary