decrease
/dɪˈkɹiːs/ verb, noun
Forms decreases decreasing decreased
- verb (intransitive) Of a quantity, to become smaller. “The quality of our products has decreased since the main designer left.”
- verb (transitive) To make (a quantity) smaller. “Let's decrease the volume a little so we can hear each other talking.”
- noun An amount by which a quantity decreases or is decreased. “After six years of constant growth, the company reported a slight decrease in sales last year.”
- noun (knitting, crochet) 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
drop abate fall go down plummet plunge reduce shrink sink cut decrement lower diminish wane slump lessen decline loss lowering reduction lessening drop-off diminution step-down minify
Antonyms
go up grow increase rise soar shoot up increment raise up gain
Etymology
From Middle English decresen, alteration of discresen, from Anglo-Norman, Old French descreistre (French: décroître), from Latin decrescere.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To grow less, --opposed to increase; to be diminished gradually, in size, degree, number, duration, etc., or in strength, quality, or excellence; as, they days decrease in length from June to December.
- verb To cause to grow less; to diminish gradually; as, extravagance decreases one's means.
- noun A becoming less; gradual diminution; decay; as, a decrease of revenue or of strength.
- noun The wane of the moon. Bacon.
Etymology [OE. decrecen, fr. OF. decreistre, F. décroître, or from the OF. noun (see Decrease, n.), fr. L. decrescere to grow less; de + crescere to grow. See Crescent, and cf. Increase.]
Etymology [OE. decrees, OF. decreis, fr. decreistre. See Decrease, v.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “decrease”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details