decrease
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
-
the act or process of decreasing; condition of being decreased; gradual reduction.
a decrease in sales;
a decrease in intensity.
- Synonyms:
- subsidence, decline, abatement
-
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
-
decreasesimple
-
decreasessimple
-
have decreasedperfect
-
has decreasedperfect
-
am decreasingprogressive
-
are decreasingprogressive
-
is decreasingprogressive
-
have been decreasingperfect progressive
-
has been decreasingperfect progressive
Past
-
decreasedsimple
-
had decreasedperfect
-
was decreasingprogressive
-
were decreasingprogressive
-
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:
District judge due to the “strong showing” that the deal would decrease competition.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
During his tenure, "pay has started to decrease somewhat, and that affects our families", she noted.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
The suspected culprit behind this loss is precisely what most would guess – warming seas, melting arctic ice and a decrease in prey availability.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
With fewer competitors, the combined Paramount-Warner company would be motivated to decrease writers’ wages to lower overall costs, the suit alleged.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
A further decrease of 8% in solar radiation, they calculate, would bring the walls creeping together; there would be no men, no land; only ice.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
As prices fall and volatility increases, debt coverage decreases, prompting margin calls as a high proportion of debt is secured over financial assets — forcing deleveraging.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
She told “Good Morning America” that Johnson has taken part in a clinical trial for a therapy “that decreases inflammation, and I think that helped him a lot.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
Doctors prescribing GLP-1s to young children cite the severity of childhood obesity and its complications, seeing significant BMI decreases in some patients.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
But that was "offset by lower food prices, with decreases in inflation seen across a range of meat, dairy and vegetable items compared to last month", Fitzner said.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
But as the wheel slows, the energy of the ball decreases, and eventually the ball drops into one of the thirty-seven slots in the wheel.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
German leaders have said the threat from one of the designated groups, Antifa Ost, or Antifa East, had recently decreased significantly.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
Passenger numbers decreased to 25.8 million from 25.9 million, while the carrier’s load factor—a measure of how full its planes are—dropped to 88.9% from 90.2%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Meanwhile, sales of Lindt chocolate in airports decreased "due to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, and therefore declining passenger traffic".
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Violence has significantly decreased after the signing of a framework agreement between the US and Iran last month, along with Lebanon's continued negotiations with Israel.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
The mask mouth was a slot from which musical sounds issued now as the robes, the mask, the hands increased to a height, decreased.
From "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury
The figures show the disease is decreasing slightly among older adults – who still make up the largest proportion of new diagnoses.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
The agency blamed the financial distress on decreasing mail and package volumes while its labor and employee benefits costs have increased significantly.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
Despite a significant proportion of American births to single mothers, the number of unmarried women giving birth has actually been decreasing for the past decade, with the decline largely driven by teenagers and working-class women.
From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026
"With decreasing support for humanitarian assistance, we then see more Sudanese look for safety, look for opportunity further afield."
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
There were only some decreasing ripples on the surface of the moat.
From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall
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.
