decrease
Americanverb (used without object)
-
decreases,
present (3rd person singular)
-
decreased,
past participle, past
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decreasing
present participle
verb (used with object)
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decreases,
present (3rd person singular)
-
decreased,
past participle, past
-
decreasing
present participle
noun
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decreases
plural
-
the act or process of decreasing; condition of being decreased; gradual reduction.
a decrease in sales;
a decrease in intensity.
- Synonyms:
- subsidence, decline, abatement
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the amount by which a thing is lessened.
The decrease in sales was almost 20 percent.
verb
noun
-
the act or process of diminishing; reduction
-
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.
Synonym Usage
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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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decreasesimple
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decreasessimple
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have decreasedperfect
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has decreasedperfect
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am decreasingprogressive
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are decreasingprogressive
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is decreasingprogressive
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have been decreasingperfect progressive
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has been decreasingperfect progressive
Past
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decreasedsimple
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had decreasedperfect
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was decreasingprogressive
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were decreasingprogressive
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had been decreasingperfect progressive
Future
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; see 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?
Vocabulary lists containing decrease
List 2
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Ratios and Proportional Relationships
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Ratios and Proportional Relationships
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Temple Police crime analyst Mike Treehern told the Tribune that the cameras helped decrease the number of stolen vehicles in his city, where 84% of their Flock cameras are funded by the state grant.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
According to the conventional Lifshitz-Kosevich model, the amplitude of quantum oscillations should steadily decrease as temperature rises.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 5, 2026
"The decrease appears to be linked to a combination of ongoing pressures on seabird food supplies, poor winter survival and increasingly extreme weather conditions," he said.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
The survey found that businesses expected the prices they charge to rise by 3.8% over the coming 12 months, a decrease from the 3.9% expected in July.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Never again shall there be any such league of Elves and Men; for Men multiply and the Firstborn decrease, and the two kindreds are estranged.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
LAHSA’s latest homeless count found that homelessness went up in L.A. this year after two years of decreases.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
The principle says that gravitational strength decreases according to the square of the distance separating two objects.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 25, 2026
The robots remain fully maneuverable even while carrying larger groups of bacteria, although their speed decreases somewhat under the added load.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 18, 2026
Broadcom has disclosed that its maximum exposure under the backstop is $29 billion, an amount that decreases as lease payments come in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
The entropy of a closed system never decreases.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
However, it said, over 25 years, average earnings in real terms in the public sector decreased by 3% while they increased by 1.2% in the private sector.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
The more you spend on buying the condo, the less growth you’ll get out of your portfolio because of your decreased principal.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
U.S. import prices decreased in July, driven by lower prices for fuel imports, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
"It is also worth noting that EU gas demand has decreased by 17 percent compared to pre-crisis levels" before 2022, the spokesperson added.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
The number of demons steadily decreased as people lost their masks or tired of the game.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
But recent, more precise measurements of dark energy’s strength hint that it might actually be decreasing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
State media later said the risk from that lake was "decreasing" and rescue operations were proceeding "in an orderly manner".
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
The company also extended the useful life of its data centers to 25 years from 15, decreasing long-term AI costs.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
Fossil-fuel power plants have deteriorated over the past few decades, decreasing output.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
But then a few years later, rates of execution and death sentencing were once again decreasing.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
