decline
Americanverb (used with object)
-
declines,
present (3rd person singular)
-
declined,
past participle, past
-
declining
present participle
-
to withhold or deny consent to do, enter into or upon, etc.; refuse.
He declined to say more about it.
- Synonyms:
- reject
-
to express inability or reluctance to accept; refuse with courtesy.
to decline an invitation; to decline an offer.
-
to cause to slope or incline downward.
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Grammar.
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to inflect (a noun, pronoun, or adjective), as Latin puella, declined puella, puellae, puellae, puellam, puella in the five cases of the singular.
-
to recite or display all or some subset of the inflected forms of a noun, pronoun, or adjective in a fixed order.
-
verb (used without object)
-
declines,
present (3rd person singular)
-
declined,
past participle, past
-
declining
present participle
-
to express courteous refusal; refuse.
We sent him an invitation but he declined.
-
to bend or slant down; slope downward; descend.
The hill declines to the lake.
- Antonyms:
- rise
-
(of pathways, routes, objects, etc.) to follow a downward course or path.
The sun declined in the skies.
-
to draw toward the close, as the day.
-
to fail in strength, vigor, character, value, etc.; deteriorate.
- Synonyms:
- languish, diminish, weaken, decay, degenerate
- Antonyms:
- improve
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to fail or dwindle; sink or fade away.
to decline in popularity.
-
to descend, as to an unworthy level; stoop.
-
Grammar. to be characterized by declension.
noun
-
declines
plural
-
a downward slope; declivity.
- Synonyms:
- hill
-
a downward movement, as of prices or population; diminution.
a decline in the stock market.
-
a failing or gradual loss, as in strength, character, power, or value; deterioration.
the decline of the Roman Empire.
- Synonyms:
- enfeeblement, degeneration, retrogression
-
a gradual deterioration of the physical powers, as in later life or in disease.
After his seventieth birthday he went into a decline.
-
progress downward or toward the close, as of the sun or the day.
-
the later years or last part.
He became an editor in the decline of his life.
verb
-
to refuse to do or accept (something), esp politely
-
(intr) to grow smaller; diminish
demand has declined over the years
-
to slope or cause to slope downwards
-
(intr) to deteriorate gradually, as in quality, health, or character
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grammar to state or list the inflections of (a noun, adjective, or pronoun), or (of a noun, adjective, or pronoun) to be inflected for number, case, or gender Compare conjugate
noun
-
gradual deterioration or loss
-
a movement downwards or towards something smaller; diminution
-
a downward slope; declivity
-
archaic any slowly progressive disease, such as tuberculosis
Synonym Usage
See refuse 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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declinernoun
-
redeclineverb
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predeclineverb (used with object)
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declinableadjective
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undeclinedadjective
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undecliningadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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declinesimple
-
declinessimple
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have declinedperfect
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has declinedperfect
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am decliningprogressive
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are decliningprogressive
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is decliningprogressive
-
have been decliningperfect progressive
-
has been decliningperfect progressive
Past
-
declinedsimple
-
had declinedperfect
-
was decliningprogressive
-
were decliningprogressive
-
had been decliningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of decline
First recorded in 1275–1325; (verb) Middle English declinen, from Old French: “to inflect, turn aside, sink,” from Latin dēclīnāre “to slope, incline, bend”; compare Greek klī́nein “to lean” ( see lean 1); (noun) Middle English declin, from Old French, derivative of decliner
Explanation
When something declines, it goes downhill. If you stop working out, your health may decline. If you want it to improve, you should start climbing inclines instead of coasting down declines. The verb decline means refuse to accept, but the noun decline means a downward slope (the opposite of an incline), or a decrease in quality. At the gym, the treadmill has an incline button to control how steep your climb is. Sadly, there's no button for decline, which would be much easier. Both words contain cline, or "to bend." The prefix tells you which way the bend goes. Decline implies a going, or turning, down.
Vocabulary lists containing decline
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 2
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"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 1–6
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The ACT Reading Test: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 2
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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:
A study by Boston University two months ago examined whether severe CTE was linked to cognitive decline.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
Boston Scientific lowered its outlook, as it expects to end a difficult year with a fourth-quarter sales decline.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
By quarter, the epidural steroid injections saw the biggest decline immediately of 21% in the first quarter of 2026, but eased to a drop of 9% in the second quarter.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026
Participants in the middle group experienced a 35% faster decline than those consuming the least, equivalent to roughly 1.3 additional years of cognitive aging.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 29, 2026
As early as 2004, if you looked at the numbers, you could clearly see the decline in lending standards.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
HeyDude, Crocs’ other footwear brand, returns to growth following several consecutive quarters of steep revenue declines.
From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026
“We had to improve the customer file, and with that, deliberately accept revenue declines at the beginning.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
As atmospheric CO2 declines, the planet cools further, potentially helping intensify an ice age.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026
Smerud, however, declines to take credit for the turnaround.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
Though he asks her to join him for dinner, she declines politely and leaves alone.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
The latest quarterly results made the same point: Net sales fell 9.7% and retail consumption, which Scalzo called the best indicator of the business’s health, declined 8.4%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
Manfre said he had a lawyer but declined to provide their name.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
In the study, the medical services that needed prior authorization declined sharply.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026
In September, a US judge declined to order Google to sell off parts of its advertising technology business, imposing restrictions on how it operates instead.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
But although he became the most respected scientist of his time, Boyle retained his retiring, modest nature and declined many honours.
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
Like its peers BMW and Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen has struggled with years of declining sales in China, the world's largest car market, where cutthroat competition between over 100 carmakers has taken its toll.
From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026
The declining support comes after an onslaught of money spent opposing Proposition 40, including a torrent of television and social media ads airing everywhere from NFL games to “Everybody Loves Raymond” reruns.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
The EA said this was due to "declining performance in some areas but also due to our tighter performance standards".
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
U.S. manufacturers have increased their head count by 72,000 since December, after years of declining employment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
But the research points to a very interesting dynamic: The reason people are spending less time in each app session isn’t because their interest in news is declining.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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