decline
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents
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]
- (UK) IPA(key): /dɪˈklaɪn/
- (US) IPA(key): /dəˈklɑɪn/, IPA(key): /diˈklɑɪn/
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Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -aɪn
Noun[edit]
decline (plural declines)
- Downward movement, fall.
- A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.
- 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.
- 2012 January 1, Philip E. Mirowski, “Harms to Health from the Pursuit of Profits”, American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 87:
- 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.
- 1992, Rudolf M. Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, page ix
Antonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
downward movement, fall
sloping downward
weakening
- 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
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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.
- Thomson
- in melancholy deep, with head declined
- Spenser
- And now fair Phoebus gan decline in haste / His weary wagon to the western vale.
- Thomson
- (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.
- Beaumont and Fletcher
- 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.
- (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.
- Massinger
- (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
- Ascham
- (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]
move downwards
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weaken
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refuse
inflect
- 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.
Related terms[edit]
External links[edit]
- decline in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- decline in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- decline at OneLook Dictionary Search
Romanian[edit]
Verb[edit]
decline
- third-person singular subjunctive form of declina.
- third-person plural subjunctive form of declina.
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 Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English transitive verbs
- en:Grammar
- Romanian verb forms
- Spanish verb forms
- Spanish verb imperative forms
- Spanish verb singular forms
- Spanish verb second-person forms
- Spanish verb formal forms
- Spanish forms of verbs ending in -ar
- Spanish verb subjunctive forms
- Spanish verb first-person forms
- Spanish verb present forms
- Spanish verb third-person forms
