decline

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See also: decliné, décline, and décliné

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English declinen, from Old French decliner, from Latin declinare (“to bend, turn aside, deflect, inflect, decline”), from de (“down”) + clīnō (“I bend, I incline”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (English lean).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

decline (plural declines)

  1. Downward movement, fall.
  2. A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.
  3. ​A weakening.
    • 2012 January 1, Philip E. Mirowski, “Harms to Health from the Pursuit of Profits”, American Scientist, 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.
  4. A reduction or diminution of activity.
    • 1992, Rudolf M. Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, 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.

Antonyms[edit]

Translations[edit]

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 Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb[edit]

decline (third-person singular simple present declines, present participle declining, simple past and past participle declined)

  1. (intransitive) To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
    The dollar has declined rapidly since 2001.
  2. (intransitive) To become weaker or worse.
    My health declined in winter.
  3. (transitive) To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
    • Thomson
      in melancholy deep, with head declined
    • Spenser
      And now fair Phoebus gan decline in haste / His weary wagon to the western vale.
  4. (transitive) To cause to decrease or diminish.
    • Beaumont and Fletcher
      You have declined his means.
    • Burton
      He knoweth his error, but will not seek to decline it.
  5. To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.
    a line that declines from straightness
    conduct that declines from sound morals
    • Bible, Psalms cxix. 157
      Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.
  6. (transitive) To refuse, forbear.
    • Massinger
      Could I decline this dreadful hour?
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, The Mirror and the Lamp:
      “[…] 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.
  7. (transitive, grammar, of substantives, usually nouns, adjectives and pronouns) To inflect for case, number and sometimes gender.
    • Ascham
      after the first declining of a noun and a verb
  8. (by extension) To run through from first to last; to repeat like a schoolboy declining a noun.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

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 Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Related terms[edit]

External links[edit]

Romanian[edit]

Verb[edit]

decline

  1. third-person singular subjunctive form of declina.
  2. third-person plural subjunctive form of declina.

Spanish[edit]

Verb[edit]

decline

  1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of declinar.
  2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of declinar.
  3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of declinar.
  4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of declinar.
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