diminished
Britishadjective
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reduced or lessened; made smaller
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music denoting any minor or perfect interval reduced by a semitone
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music denoting a triad consisting of the root plus a minor third and a diminished fifth
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music (postpositive) (esp in jazz or pop music) denoting a diminished seventh chord having as its root the note specified
B diminished
Explanation
If you drive through a tunnel, you’ll notice that your cell phone reception is diminished. When something is diminished, it’s been weakened or lessened. Diminished is an adjective used when something has lost its power, prestige, or worth. The value of a car, for instance, is diminished over time by wear and tear. In some instances, diminished means "belittled," or made to seem like less in the face of something perceived as better or greater. The popularity of a laptop, for instance, will be diminished if a cheaper, more powerful model is released. Leaders and politicians who get involved in scandals often suffer diminished reputations.
Vocabulary lists containing diminished
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
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The City of Ember
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Music - Middle School
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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.
Calocane was convicted of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility, and detained at a high-security hospital.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
Calocane is serving an indefinite hospital order, after pleading guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, due to his paranoid schizophrenia, in January 2024.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
But that advantage diminished in the age of social media.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
This is starting to change, which will hurt builders’ already diminished profit margins.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
Yet, in interviews with police officers who have been involved with shootings, these same details appear again and again: extreme visual clarity, tunnel vision, diminished sound, and the sense that time is slowing down.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
