decrease

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman, Old French descreistre (French: décroître), from Latin decrescere.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• enPR: dĭkrēs', IPA^(key): /dɪˈkɹiːs/
• enPR: dē'krēs, IPA^(key): /ˈdiːkɹiːs/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːs

Verb

1. (intransitive) Of a quantity, to become smaller.
2. (transitive) To make (a quantity) smaller.

Synonyms

• (become smaller): drop, fall, go down, plummet (rapidly), plunge (rapidly), reduce, shrink, sink; See also Thesaurus:decrease
• (make smaller): abate, cut, decrement, lower, reduce; See also Thesaurus:diminish

Antonyms

• (become larger): go up, grow, increase, rise, soar (rapidly), shoot up (rapidly); See also Thesaurus:increase
• (make larger): increase, increment, raise, up (informal); See also Thesaurus:augment

Related terms

• decretion
• increase

Translations

become smaller

• Armenian: փոքրանալ (hy) (pʻokʻranal), պակասել (hy) (pakasel)
• Assamese: কমা (koma)
• Bulgarian: намаля́вам се (namaljávam se)
• Catalan: decréixer (ca), disminuir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 減少／减少 (zh) (jiǎnshǎo), 减少 (zh) (jiǎnshǎo), 下降 (zh) (xiàjiàng)

• Danish: formindske, forringe
• Dutch: afnemen (nl), verminderen (nl)
• Esperanto: malpliiĝi, malaltiĝi
• Finnish: vähentyä (fi), pienentyä (fi), pienetä (fi), vähetä (fi)
• French: diminuer (fr)
• Gallurese: affluscià
• German: abnehmen (de)

  Alemannic German: schwiine

• Greek: μειώνομαι (el) (meiónomai), λιγοστεύω (el) (ligostévo)
• Hebrew: פחת (pakhát)
• Hungarian: csökken (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: diminutar (io)
• Italian: diminuire (it), calare (it)
• Japanese: 減少する (ja) (げんしょうする, genshō suru), 減る (ja) (へる, heru)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: کەم کردن (kem kirdin)

• Maori: pāitiiti
• Norwegian: forminske (no), forringe
• Persian: کاستن (fa) (kāstan)
• Portuguese: diminuir (pt), reduzir (pt)
• Romanian: descrește (ro), scădea (ro)
• Russian: уменьша́ться (ru) impf (umenʹšátʹsja), уме́ньшиться (ru) pf (uménʹšitʹsja), снижа́ться (ru) impf (snižátʹsja), сни́зиться (ru) pf (snízitʹsja), понижа́ться (ru) impf (ponižátʹsja), пони́зиться (ru) pf (ponízitʹsja)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: calai, menguai

  Logudorese: menguare, minimare

• Sassarese: miminà, abbracà
• Spanish: disminuir (es), mermar (es)
• Swedish: minska (sv)
• Turkish: azalmak (tr), düşmek (tr)

make smaller

• Assamese: কমোৱা (komüa)
• Bulgarian: намаля́вам (bg) (namaljávam)
• Catalan: disminuir (ca)
• Czech: snížit (cs)
• Dutch: verminderen (nl)
• Esperanto: malpliigi, malaltigi (eo)
• Finnish: laskea (fi), vähentää (fi), pienentää (fi)
• French: diminuer (fr), réduire (fr)
• German: verringern (de)
• Greek: μειώνω (el) (meióno), ελαττώνω (el) (elattóno)
• Hebrew: הפחית (hifkhít)
• Hungarian: csökkent (hu)
• Ido: diminutar (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: diminuire (it), far calare, ribassare (it), ridurre (it), decrementare
• Japanese: 減少させる (ja) (げんしょうさせる, genshō saseru), 減らす (ja) (へらす, herasu)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: کەم کردن (kem kirdin)

• Portuguese: diminuir (pt), reduzir (pt)
• Russian: уменьша́ть (ru) impf (umenʹšátʹ), уме́ньшить (ru) pf (uménʹšitʹ), понижа́ть (ru) impf (ponižátʹ), пони́зить (ru) pf (ponízitʹ), снижа́ть (ru) impf (snižátʹ), сни́зить (ru) pf (snízitʹ)
• Sardinian:

  Logudorese: mèngua

• Spanish: disminuir (es), mermar (es)
• Swedish: minska (sv), förringa (sv)
• Turkish: azaltmak (tr), düşürmek (tr)
• Vietnamese: hạ (vi)

Noun

decrease (countable and uncountable, plural decreases)

1. An amount by which a quantity is decreased.

   One research team has recorded Baishui’s decrease at about 27 meters per year over the last 10 years.

2. (knitting) A reduction in the number of stitches, usually accomplished by suspending the stitch to be decreased from another existing stitch or by knitting it together with another stitch. See Decrease (knitting).

Synonyms

• (amount by which a quantity is decreased): cut, decrement, drop, fall, loss, lowering, reduction, shrinkage

Antonyms

• (amount by which a quantity is decreased): gain, increase, increment, raise (US, of pay), rise

Translations

amount of decrease

• Bulgarian: намаляване (bg) n (namaljavane), намаление (bg) n (namalenie)
• Catalan: disminució f, decreixença f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 減少／减少 (zh) (jiǎnshǎo), 减少 (zh) (jiǎnshǎo)

• Finnish: lasku (fi), vähenemä, vähennys (fi)
• German: Verringerung (de) f
• Hungarian: csökkenés (hu)
• Italian: diminuzione (it) f, calo (it) m, ribasso (it) m, riduzione (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 減少 (ja) (げんしょう, genshō)
• Latin: dēcrēmentum (la) n
• Maori: ero
• Norwegian: forringelse
• Persian: کاهش (fa) (kâheš)
• Polish: spadek (pl) m, ubytek (pl) m
• Portuguese: redução (pt) f, diminuição (pt) f
• Quechua: yawyay
• Russian: уменьше́ние (ru) n (umenʹšénije), сниже́ние (ru) n (snižénije)
• Spanish: disminución (es) f, merma (es)
• Swedish: minskning (sv) c

Anagrams

• deceaser