“declines” is a form of
decline
/dɪˈklaɪn/ noun, verb
Forms declines declining declined declinest declinedst declineth
- noun (dynamically, of an event or occurrence): Downward movement, fall. “The aircraft went into a sudden decline before the pilot regained control.”
- noun (statically, of a physical state): A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road. “After taking a right from that turn a decline will come into view.”
- noun A deterioration of condition; a weakening or worsening. “He has experienced a sudden decline in his health.”
- noun A reduction or diminution of activity, prevalence or quantity. “Population decline is a major concern.”
- noun The act of declining or refusing something.
- verb (intransitive) To move downwards, to fall, to drop. “The dollar has declined rapidly since 2001.”
- verb (intransitive) To become weaker or worse. “My health declined in winter.”
- verb (transitive) To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
- verb (transitive) To cause to decrease or diminish.
- verb To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.
- verb (transitive) To choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain. “On reflection I think I will decline your generous offer.”
- verb (transitive, grammar, usually of substantives, adjectives and pronouns) To inflect for case, number, gender, and the like.
- verb (transitive, grammar) To recite all the different declined forms of (a word): to recite its declension.
Synonyms
descent declense diminution declination decay declivity fall declension downslope worsen refuse reject pass up turn down go down wane slump correct
Antonyms
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.
Webster’s 1913
- verb 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.
- verb 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.
- verb To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
- verb To cause to decrease or diminish. [Obs.] "You have declined his means." Beau. & Fl.
Etymology [OE. declinen to bend down, lower, sink, decline (a noun), F. décliner 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.]
Etymology [F. déclin. See Decline, v. i.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “decline”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details