decrease
Americanverb (used without object)
-
decreases,
present (3rd person singular)
-
decreased,
past participle, past
-
decreasing
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
decreases,
present (3rd person singular)
-
decreased,
past participle, past
-
decreasing
present participle
noun
-
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
-
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
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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:
Not so with string pinsetters, which might even decrease scoring and certainly make the game look and sound different.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
Based on the molecule's established role in attracting immune cells, the researchers expected inflammation to decrease.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 5, 2026
Over the past three years he’s seen a broader trend of growing advertising costs on Google alongside a decrease in clicks.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 31, 2026
Lower levels of sunlight - depending on where in the world you live or the time of year - decrease the body's ability to produce it.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
But the net result has been to bind the Earth together, to decrease provincialism, to unify the human species and to advance powerfully our knowledge of our planet and ourselves.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Multiple sources have told BBC Sport that Newcastle - with a view to protecting themselves against Howe walking straight into another club - reached an agreement over a compensation structure that decreases over time.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
Central bank officials are penciling in one more rate increase this year and no increases for 2027 — but no decreases, either.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
Among the world's top-six emitters, preliminary data for 2025 showed emissions increases in the US, Indonesia and China and decreases in India, Russia and the European Union.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
Livestock decreases due to lack of land and feed, opening up more space for crops.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
It starts at zero, increases to a maximum, and then decreases to zero again.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
In the Europe and Asia-Pacific segment, sales decreased 2.7%, which the company attributed to lower volume in the U.K. due to soft demand and heightened competition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
While organic sales increased 3% in the quarter, divestitures decreased sales by 2%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
When the particle distribution increased or decreased in its spread, the system continued moving forward according to this internal measure of time.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026
In the same period, errors by MI6 decreased from 10 to three.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
The villagers work longer hours with decreased food rations.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
"I'm optimistic. Their cost of capital is actually decreasing."
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
The state ballot measures aim to fix the housing crisis in various ways, from amending regulations so home-building is easier, to decreasing the ongoing cost of homeownership by cutting taxes.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
Penguins with narrower diets, including Emperors and Adélies, are decreasing in number in some regions.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
Turkey and the European Union each accounted for 5% during the same time period, although Russian energy exports to the EU have been decreasing.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
But then a few years later, rates of execution and death sentencing were once again decreasing.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
