decline
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English declinen, and ultimately Latin declīnō (“to bend, turn aside, deflect, inflect, decline”), from de (“down”) + clīnō (“I bend, I incline”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (English lean). The senses arrived from two separate pathways in Middle English:
- The grammatical sense came from Old English declīnian, which was borrowed directly from the Latin etymon.
- All senses except the grammatical sense were derived from those of Old French decliner. Old French itself borrowed the verb from Latin.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
decline (countable and uncountable, plural declines)
- Downward movement, fall.(Can we add an example for this sense?)
- A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.(Can we add an example for this sense?)
- A weakening.(Can we add an example for this sense?)
- 2012 January 1, Philip E. Mirowski, “Harms to Health from the Pursuit of Profits”, in American Scientist[1], volume 100, number 1, page 87:
- In an era when political leaders promise deliverance from decline through America’s purported preeminence in scientific research, the news that science is in deep trouble in the United States has been as unwelcome as a diagnosis of leukemia following the loss of health insurance.
- A reduction or diminution of activity.
- 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page ix:
- It is also pertinent to note that the current obvious decline in work on holarctic hepatics most surely reflects a current obsession with cataloging and with nomenclature of the organisms—as divorced from their study as living entities.
- 2022 March 23, Paul Clifton, “Londoners pay the price”, in RAIL, number 953, page 48:
- "It knows it has to plan for managed decline, but it can't even plan for managed decline if it doesn't know how much decline to manage."
- The act of declining or refusing something.
- 2004, David A. Montague, Fraud Prevention Techniques for Credit Card Fraud:
- The issuing bank only checks the consumer's credit card number for authorization. […] Soft declines are those declines in which the bank requires further verification.
Antonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
downward movement, fall
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sloping downward
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weakening
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reduction of activity
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act of declining or refusing something
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Verb[edit]
decline (third-person singular simple present declines, present participle declining, simple past and past participle declined)
- (intransitive) To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
- The dollar has declined rapidly since 2001.
- (intransitive) To become weaker or worse.
- My health declined in winter.
- (transitive) To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
- 1728, James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, OCLC 642619686:
- in melancholy site, with head declined
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book II, canto IX, stanza 10:
- And now faire Phoebus gan decline in hast / His weary wagon to the Westerne vale.
- (transitive) To cause to decrease or diminish.
- 1612–1613, Nathan Field; John Fletcher; Philip Massinger, “The Honest Mans Fortune”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972, Act II, scene ii:
- You have declin'd his means.
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970:
- He knoweth his error, but will not seek to decline it.
- To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.
- a line that declines from straightness
- conduct that declines from sound morals
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Psalms 99:157:
- Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.
- (transitive) To choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain.
- 1626, Philip Massinger, The Roman Actor
- Could I decline this dreadful hour?
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 4293071:
- “ […] This is Mr. Churchill, who, as you are aware, is good enough to come to us for his diaconate, and, as we hope, for much longer; and being a gentleman of independent means, he declines to take any payment.” Saying this Walden rubbed his hands together and smiled contentedly.
- On reflection I think I will decline your generous offer.
- 1626, Philip Massinger, The Roman Actor
- (transitive, grammar, usually of substantives, adjectives and pronouns) To inflect for case, number and sometimes gender; more specifically, to recite all the different declined forms of a noun.
- 1570, Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster (first edition)
- after the first declining of a noun and a verb
- 1570, Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster (first edition)
- (by extension) To run through from first to last; to recite in order as though declining a noun.
- c. 1593, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iv]:
- Decline all this, and see what now thou art. For happy wife, a most distressed widow;
For joyful mother, one that wails the name;
For one being sued to, one that humbly sues;
For queen , a very caitiff crown'd with care […]
- (American football, Canadian football) To reject a penalty against the opposing team, usually because the result of accepting it would benefit the non-penalized team less than the preceding play.
- The team chose to decline the fifteen-yard penalty because their receiver had caught the ball for a thirty-yard gain.
Usage notes[edit]
- Decline, refuse, forbear, refrain: Decline is gentler than refuse and carries a connotation that the non-acceptance is an acceptable or anticipated option (decline an invitation) or the result of a considered decision (the judge declined to grant the motion). Refuse has a stronger connotation of rejection, firmness, resistance, or non-compliance. For example, if someone declines to give their name, that suggests they were given a choice and elected not to give their name. If someone refuses to give their name, the connotation is more toward a suggestion that they normally should have given their name and are being intransigent. Forbear or refrain, conversely, suggest choosing not to do something that one might indulge in or be tempted to do (refrain from smoking), with forbear having an added connotation of showing some fortitude in withstanding the temptation (forbear to show anger). Refrain can also be used to refer to a general policy or preference rather than a choice on a single occasion.
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
move downwards
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become weaker or worse
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deviate — see deviate
refuse
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inflect
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American football or Canadian football: reject a penalty against an opposing team
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further reading[edit]
- “decline” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- “decline” in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- decline at OneLook Dictionary Search
Anagrams[edit]
Portuguese[edit]
Verb[edit]
decline
- first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of declinar
- third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of declinar
- third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of declinar
- third-person singular (você) negative imperative of declinar
Romanian[edit]
Verb[edit]
decline
Spanish[edit]
Verb[edit]
decline
- Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of declinar.
- First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of declinar.
- Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of declinar.
- Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of declinar.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱley- (incline)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/aɪn
- Rhymes:English/aɪn/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English transitive verbs
- en:Grammar
- en:Football (American)
- en:Canadian football
- Portuguese non-lemma forms
- Portuguese verb forms
- Romanian non-lemma forms
- Romanian verb forms
- Spanish non-lemma forms
- Spanish verb forms
- Spanish forms of verbs ending in -ar