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Decline
Definitions
- 1 Downward movement, fall. countable, uncountable
- 2 a downward slope or bend wordnet
- 3 A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road. countable, uncountable
"After taking a right from that turn a decline will come into view."
- 4 a gradual decrease; as of stored charge or current wordnet
- 5 A deterioration of condition; a weakening or worsening. countable, uncountable
"He has experienced a sudden decline in his health."
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- 6 change toward something smaller or lower wordnet
- 7 A reduction or diminution of activity, prevalence or quantity. countable, uncountable
"Population decline is a major concern."
- 8 a condition inferior to an earlier condition; a gradual falling off from a better state; decline wordnet
- 9 The act of declining or refusing something. countable, uncountable
"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."
- 1 To move downwards, to fall, to drop. intransitive
"The dollar has declined rapidly since 2001."
- 2 grow worse wordnet
- 3 To become weaker or worse. intransitive
"My health declined in winter."
- 4 grow smaller wordnet
- 5 To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall. transitive
"in melancholy site, with head declined"
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- 6 show unwillingness towards wordnet
- 7 To cause to decrease or diminish. transitive
"You have declin'd his means."
- 8 inflect for number, gender, case, etc. wordnet
- 9 To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.
"a line that declines from straightness"
- 10 fall in value wordnet
- 11 To choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain. transitive
"Could I decline this dreadful hour?"
- 12 go down wordnet
- 13 To inflect for case, number, gender, and the like. transitive, usually
- 14 not accept as true wordnet
- 15 To recite all the different declined forms of (a word): to recite its declension. transitive
"after the first declining of a noun and a verb"
- 16 To run through from first to last; to recite in order as though declining a noun. broadly
"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[…]"
- 17 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. Canadian
"The team chose to decline the fifteen-yard penalty because their receiver had caught the ball for a thirty-yard gain."
Etymology
From Middle English declinen, and ultimately Latin declīnō (“to bend, turn aside, deflect, inflect, decline”, from dē- (“down”) + clīnō (“to bend, to 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.
From Middle English declinen, and ultimately Latin declīnō (“to bend, turn aside, deflect, inflect, decline”, from dē- (“down”) + clīnō (“to bend, to 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.
See also for "decline"
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