decline
to withhold or deny consent to do, enter into or upon, etc.; refuse: He declined to say more about it.
to express inability or reluctance to accept; refuse with courtesy: to decline an invitation; to decline an offer.
to cause to slope or incline downward.
Grammar.
to inflect (a noun, pronoun, or adjective), as Latin puella, declined puella, puellae, puellae, puellam, puella in the five cases of the singular.
to recite or display all or some subset of the inflected forms of a noun, pronoun, or adjective in a fixed order.
to express courteous refusal; refuse: We sent him an invitation but he declined.
to bend or slant down; slope downward; descend: The hill declines to the lake.
(of pathways, routes, objects, etc.) to follow a downward course or path: The sun declined in the skies.
to draw toward the close, as the day.
to fail in strength, vigor, character, value, etc.; deteriorate.
to fail or dwindle; sink or fade away: to decline in popularity.
to descend, as to an unworthy level; stoop.
Grammar. to be characterized by declension.
a downward slope; declivity.
a downward movement, as of prices or population; diminution: a decline in the stock market.
a failing or gradual loss, as in strength, character, power, or value; deterioration: the decline of the Roman Empire.
a gradual deterioration of the physical powers, as in later life or in disease: After his seventieth birthday he went into a decline.
progress downward or toward the close, as of the sun or the day.
the later years or last part: He became an editor in the decline of his life.
Origin of decline
1synonym study For decline
Other words for decline
1 | reject |
9 | degenerate, decay, weaken, diminish, languish |
13 | hill |
15 | retrogression, degeneration, enfeeblement, weakening |
Opposites for decline
Other words from decline
- de·clin·er, noun
- pre·de·cline, verb (used with object), pre·de·clined, pre·de·clin·ing.
- re·de·cline, verb, re·de·clined, re·de·clin·ing, noun
- un·de·clined, adjective
- un·de·clin·ing, adjective
Words Nearby decline
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use decline in a sentence
You can also start at the top and lower your machine backwards over small cut-banks and other declines.
Six ways to make your ATV even more rugged | By Tyler Freel/Outdoor Life | September 17, 2020 | Popular-SciencePitching speed — which directly correlates to opposing batters’ offensive performance — typically begins to slow in a pitcher’s late 20s, and the decline accelerates in his 30s.
Bulatao also said Linick’s office had experienced a “double-digit decline since 2016” in employee satisfaction metrics.
State Department offers murky analysis of job performance survey to justify inspector general’s firing | Karoun Demirjian, Carol Morello | September 17, 2020 | Washington PostAfter 2018, Delaware Republicans were locked out of power in the state, a punctuation mark on a long decline.
Across the United States, some 162 million people — nearly 1 in 2 — will most likely experience a decline in the quality of their environment, namely more heat and less water.
Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration | by Abrahm Lustgarten, photography by Meridith Kohut | September 15, 2020 | ProPublica
Police Superintendent Michael Harrison said the decline was a result of an effort to decrease gang violence.
The loss of this “expectation” game began his decline and ultimate withdrawal from the race.
When A Christmas Carol was published just in time for the Christmas of 1843, the holiday had been in a long decline in England.
Thanks to CompStat and strategies added by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, crime continued to decline.
America, Stephens writes, is not necessarily in “decline” but rather “retreat.”
‘America in Retreat’: Why Neo-Isolationism Exploded Under Obama and What We Can Do About It | James Kirchick | December 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTI am ready Madam,—for I have sufficiently experienced the folly of my presuming to decline it.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4 | Jane PorterAnd I, for one, absolutely decline to believe in this preposterous story of his about a bull-dog.
He continued active till his 35th year, when he began to decline, and died of water in the chest.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology | Joel MunsellThey are made in kindness, and show interest, but if you decline seeing such callers, there is no offence given.
The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness | Florence HartleyIf your state of health deprives you of appetite, it is bad enough for you to decline the invitation to dine out.
The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness | Florence Hartley
British Dictionary definitions for decline
/ (dɪˈklaɪn) /
to refuse to do or accept (something), esp politely
(intr) to grow smaller; diminish: demand has declined over the years
to slope or cause to slope downwards
(intr) to deteriorate gradually, as in quality, health, or character
grammar to state or list the inflections of (a noun, adjective, or pronoun), or (of a noun, adjective, or pronoun) to be inflected for number, case, or gender: Compare conjugate (def. 1)
gradual deterioration or loss
a movement downwards or towards something smaller; diminution
a downward slope; declivity
archaic any slowly progressive disease, such as tuberculosis
Origin of decline
1Derived forms of decline
- declinable, adjective
- decliner, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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