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:
Brian Griffith of Griffith Family Farms says that he has seen a 50% decrease in his profits since the cuts began.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
For all of the vicious debates over sex ed in the ’90 and 2000s, those pushing abstinence and those promoting comprehensive health education could largely agree on one thing: We wanted teen pregnancies to decrease.
From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026
Demand for U.S. durable goods rose 0.3% in June to $334.8 billion, following a 4% decrease in May.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Calcium-fortified sparkling water produced a decrease after 5 minutes.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
We had all hoped that as negotiations got under way, violence would decrease.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
"Our findings show that, across different organism groups, extinctions happened at much higher rates for those more vulnerable to increases in water temperature and decreases in oxygen availability."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026
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
Meanwhile, doctors who are prescribing GLP-1s to younger children say they are seeing BMI decreases of up to 20% and sometimes more in some patients.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 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
As the European contribution decreased, the US share of the funding rose.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
In June, the number of active listings decreased 16% in Manhattan and 0.4% in Brooklyn from the previous year, according to real-estate company the Corcoran Group.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
Vaccination rates have significantly decreased over the last 30 years in small pockets of the country, she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Feature film shoots were down 20% in the second quarter compared to last year, while TV production decreased by 30%.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
For one thing, membership had decreased substantially in the past decade.
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
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
Another aim is to increase self-sufficiency in sourcing and processing while decreasing dependence on foreign suppliers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
So they spent the next five years steadily decreasing their asking price in hopes of landing a buyer.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 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
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.
