decrease

American  

[dih-krees, dee-krees, dih-krees] / dɪˈkris, ˈdi kris, dɪˈkris /

verb (used without object)

decreased, decreasing

1. to diminish or lessen in extent, quantity, strength, power, etc..

   During the ten-day march across the desert their supply of water decreased rapidly.

   Synonyms:

   abate, contract, decline, lessen, wane

   Antonyms:

   expand, increase

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verb (used with object)

decreased, decreasing

1. to make less; cause to diminish.

   to decrease one's work load.

noun

1. the act or process of decreasing; condition of being decreased; gradual reduction.

   a decrease in sales;

   a decrease in intensity.

   Synonyms:

   subsidence, decline, abatement

2. the amount by which a thing is lessened.

   The decrease in sales was almost 20 percent.

decrease British  

verb

1. to diminish or cause to diminish in size, number, strength, etc

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noun

1. the act or process of diminishing; reduction

2. the amount by which something has been diminished

Usage

What does decrease mean? To decrease is to lessen or become reduced in number, amount, size, or in some other way, as in Our profits will continue to decrease unless we cut costs. As a verb, decrease is also used in an active way in which someone or something is doing the decreasing, as in I’m going to decrease my hours at work or These sunglasses decrease glare. The word reduce is perhaps even more commonly used to mean the same thing. Decrease can also be used as a noun referring to a reduction, as in We are experiencing a decrease in applicants. It can also refer to the amount by which something has decreased, as in The decrease was $5,000 per year. The words decreased and decreasing can both be used as adjectives, as in a decreased appetite or decreasing sales. The opposite of decrease as both a verb and a noun is increase. Example: Sally decided to decrease her workload, which led to a decrease in stress.

Related Words

Decrease, diminish, dwindle, shrink imply becoming smaller or less in amount. Decrease commonly implies a sustained reduction in stages, especially of bulk, size, volume, or quantity, often from some imperceptible cause or inherent process: The swelling decreased daily. Diminish usually implies the action of some external cause that keeps taking away: Disease caused the number of troops to diminish steadily. Dwindle implies an undesirable reduction by degrees, resulting in attenuation: His followers dwindled to a mere handful. Shrink especially implies contraction through an inherent property under specific conditions: Many fabrics shrink in hot water.

Other Word Forms

• decreasing adjective
• decreasingly adverb
• undecreased adjective

Etymology

Origin of decrease

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English verb decresen, from Old French decreiss-, long stem of decreistre, from Latin dēcrēscere “to diminish,” literally “to grow down,” equivalent to dē- de- + crēscere “to grow”); noun derivative of the verb; crescent

Explanation

Decrease means to lower or go down. If you are driving above the speed limit, you should decrease your speed or risk getting a ticket. Students always want teachers to decrease the amount of homework. The opposite of decrease is increase, which means to raise. In science, you often are measuring increases and decreases. Is there a decrease in the time it takes water to boil when you begin with water as a liquid rather than water in its ice-cube form?

Example Sentences

The decrease in real wages is “a big turnaround from the past few years, when wages were growing well above inflation for most workers.”

From MarketWatch • Apr. 10, 2026

In the Southland, strong El Niños increase the likelihood of wet winters that replenish water supplies and decrease wildfire frequency but can also lead to flooding, debris flows and coastal erosion.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026

In typical development, connections between these networks tend to decrease over time, allowing the brain to specialize.

From Science Daily • Apr. 9, 2026

One long-term trend driving the slide: a sharp decrease in birthrates for teens and women in their 20s.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

And I didn’t know that the enthalpy decrease in a converging passage could be transformed into jet kinetic energy if a divergent passage was added.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

Related Words

• abate
• curb
• curtail
• cut down
• decline
• depreciate
• deteriorate
• diminish
• drop
• drop off
• dwindle
• ease
• ebb
• fall off
• lessen
• lower
• reduce
• shrink
• sink
• slacken