decline

[de·cline]

When something declines, it goes downhill. If you stop working out, your health may decline. If you want it to improve, you should start climbing inclines instead of coasting down declines.

...

To bend, or lean downward; to take a downward direction; to bend over or hang down, as from weakness, weariness, despondency, etc.; to condescend.

Noun
a downward slope or bend

Noun
a gradual decrease; as of stored charge or current

Noun
change toward something smaller or lower

Noun
a condition inferior to an earlier condition; a gradual falling off from a better state

Verb
grow worse; "Conditions in the slum worsened"

...

Verb
grow smaller; "Interest in the project waned"

Verb
show unwillingness towards; "he declined to join the group on a hike"

Verb
inflect for number, gender, case, etc., "in many languages, speakers decline nouns, pronouns, and adjectives"

Verb
go down in value; "the stock market corrected"; "prices slumped"

Verb
go down; "The roof declines here"

Verb
refuse to accept; "He refused my offer of hospitality"


v. i.
To bend, or lean downward; to take a downward direction; to bend over or hang down, as from weakness, weariness, despondency, etc.; to condescend.

v. i.
To tend or draw towards a close, decay, or extinction; to tend to a less perfect state; to become diminished or impaired; to fail; to sink; to diminish; to lessen; as, the day declines; virtue declines; religion declines; business declines.

v. i.
To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw; as, a line that declines from straightness; conduct that declines from sound morals.

v. i.
To turn away; to shun; to refuse; -- the opposite of accept or consent; as, he declined, upon principle.

v. t.
To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.

v. t.
To cause to decrease or diminish.

v. t.
To put or turn aside; to turn off or away from; to refuse to undertake or comply with; reject; to shun; to avoid; as, to decline an offer; to decline a contest; he declined any participation with them.

v. t.
To inflect, or rehearse in order the changes of grammatical form of; as, to decline a noun or an adjective.

v. t.
To run through from first to last; to repeat like a schoolboy declining a noun.

v. i.
A falling off; a tendency to a worse state; diminution or decay; deterioration; also, the period when a thing is tending toward extinction or a less perfect state; as, the decline of life; the decline of strength; the decline of virtue and religion.

v. i.
That period of a disorder or paroxysm when the symptoms begin to abate in violence; as, the decline of a fever.

v. i.
A gradual sinking and wasting away of the physical faculties; any wasting disease, esp. pulmonary consumption; as, to die of a decline.


Decline

De*cline" , v. i. [imp. & p. p. Declined ; p. pr. & vb. n. Declining.] [OE. declinen to bend down, lower, sink, decline (a noun), F. d'82cliner to decline, refuse, fr. L. declinare to turn aside, inflect (a part of speech), avoid; de- + clinare to incline; akin to E. lean. See Lean, v. i.] 1. To bend, or lean downward; to take a downward direction; to bend over or hang down, as from weakness, weariness, despondency, etc.; to condescend. "With declining head." Shak.
He . . . would decline even to the lowest of his family.
Disdaining to decline, Slowly he falls, amidst triumphant cries.
The ground at length became broken and declined rapidly.
2. To tend or draw towards a close, decay, or extinction; to tend to a less perfect state; to become diminished or impaired; to fail; to sink; to diminish; to lessen; as, the day declines; virtue declines; religion declines; business declines.
That empire must decline Whose chief support and sinews are of coin.
And presume to know . . . Who thrives, and who declines.
3. To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw; as, a line that declines from straightness; conduct that declines from sound morals.
Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.
4. To turn away; to shun; to refuse; -- the opposite of accept or consent; as, he declined, upon principle.

Decline

De*cline", v. t. 1. To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
In melancholy deep, with head declined.
And now fair Phoebus gan decline in haste His weary wagon to the western vale.
2. To cause to decrease or diminish. [Obs.] "You have declined his means." Beau. & Fl.
He knoweth his error, but will not seek to decline it.
3. To put or turn aside; to turn off or away from; to refuse to undertake or comply with; reject; to shun; to avoid; as, to decline an offer; to decline a contest; he declined any participation with them.
Could I Decline this dreadful hour?
4. (Gram.) To inflect, or rehearse in order the changes of grammatical form of; as, to decline a noun or an adjective. &hand; Now restricted to such words as have case inflections; but formerly it was applied both to declension and conjugation.
After the first declining of a noun and a verb.
5. To run through from first to last; to repeat like a schoolboy declining a noun. [R.] Shak.

Decline

De*cline" , n. [F. d'82clin. See Decline, v. i.] 1. A falling off; a tendency to a worse state; diminution or decay; deterioration; also, the period when a thing is tending toward extinction or a less perfect state; as, the decline of life; the decline of strength; the decline of virtue and religion.
Their fathers lived in the decline of literature.
2. (Med.) That period of a disorder or paroxysm when the symptoms begin to abate in violence; as, the decline of a fever. 3. A gradual sinking and wasting away of the physical faculties; any wasting disease, esp. pulmonary consumption; as, to die of a decline. Dunglison. Syn. -- Decline, Decay, Consumption. Decline marks the first stage in a downward progress; decay indicates the second stage, and denotes a tendency to ultimate destruction; consumption marks a steady decay from an internal exhaustion of strength. The health may experience a decline from various causes at any period of life; it is naturally subject to decay with the advance of old age; consumption may take place at almost any period of life, from disease which wears out the constitution. In popular language decline is often used as synonymous with consumption. By a gradual decline, states and communities lose their strength and vigor; by progressive decay, they are stripped of their honor, stability, and greatness; by a consumption of their resources and vital energy, they are led rapidly on to a completion of their existence.

To bend, or lean downward; to take a downward direction; to bend over or hang down, as from weakness, weariness, despondency, etc.; to condescend.

To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.

A falling off; a tendency to a worse state; diminution or decay; deterioration; also, the period when a thing is tending toward extinction or a less perfect state; as, the decline of life; the decline of strength; the decline of virtue and religion.

...

Usage Examples

As a result of the digital age and the decline of first-class mail, there is no question that the Postal Service must change and develop a new business model.

We can recognize the dawn and the decline of love by the uneasiness we feel when alone together.

Does art have a future? Performance genres like opera, theater, music and dance are thriving all over the world, but the visual arts have been in slow decline for nearly 40 years. No major figure of profound influence has emerged in painting or sculpture since the waning of Pop Art and the birth of Minimalism in the early 1970s.

There is at least one point in the history of any company when you have to change dramatically to rise to the next level of performance. Miss that moment - and you start to decline.

Land and sea, weakness and decline are great separators, but death is the great divorcer for ever.

This cream will help one's nature strengthen and grow, The diet gives support in my decline.

The Endangered Species Act is the strongest and most effective tool we have to repair the environmental harm that is causing a species to decline.

A drunkard in the gutter is just where he ought to be, according to the fitness and tendency of things. Nature has set upon him the process of decline and dissolution by which she removes things which have survived their usefulness.

Misspelled Form

decline, sdecline, edecline, fdecline, xdecline, cdecline, secline, eecline, fecline, xecline, cecline, dsecline, deecline, dfecline, dxecline, dcecline, dwecline, d3ecline, d4ecline, drecline, dsecline, ddecline, dwcline, d3cline, d4cline, drcline, dscline, ddcline, dewcline, de3cline, de4cline, dercline, descline, dedcline, dexcline, dedcline, defcline, devcline, de cline, dexline, dedline, defline, devline, de line, decxline, decdline, decfline, decvline, dec line, deckline, decoline, decpline, dec:line, deckine, decoine, decpine, dec:ine, declkine, decloine, declpine, decl:ine, decluine, decl8ine, decl9ine, decloine, decljine, declkine, declune, decl8ne, decl9ne, declone, decljne, declkne, decliune, decli8ne, decli9ne, declione, declijne, declikne, declibne, declihne, declijne, declimne, decli ne, declibe, declihe, declije, declime, decli e, declinbe, declinhe, declinje, declinme, declin e, declinwe, declin3e, declin4e, declinre, declinse, declinde, declinw, declin3, declin4, declinr, declins, declind, declinew, decline3, decline4, decliner, declines, declined.

Other Usage Examples

I think the country's getting disgusted with Washington partly because of the decline of civility in government.

I think there's been a decline in the public's access to what's being done with their tax dollars, what's being done in their name. I hope that that will be repaired.

During the Cold War, we gathered information by listening to the Soviets, taking pictures of the Soviets, and we allowed our human intelligence to decline.

Our American friends offer us money, arms, and advice. We take the money, we take the arms, and we decline the advice.

All respect for the office of the presidency aside, I assumed that the obvious and unadulterated decline of freedom and constitutional sovereignty, not to mention the efforts to curb the power of judicial review, spoke for itself.

For much of this decade, both Congressional and administration budget projections showed a decline in science and technology accounts of between 20 and 30 percent in real dollars. The real impact to date has been far less severe.

There's evidence of a social decline in direct proportion to technology and the industrialization of the motion picture industry.

In New York, if you weigh under 200 pounds and decline so much as a cookie at a co-worker's party, women will flock to your side, assuring you of your appealing physique. This is how skittish we are about the dangers of anorexia and the pressures of body image.

Comments


Browse Dictionary