decline
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decline
- /dɪˈklaɪn/
Rhymes with -aɪn
Where it comes from
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.
noun declines
- Downward movement, fall. The aircraft went into a sudden decline before the pilot regained control.
- A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road. After taking a right from that turn a decline will come into view.
- A deterioration of condition; a weakening or worsening. He has experienced a sudden decline in his health.
- A reduction or diminution of activity, prevalence or quantity. Population decline is a major concern.
- The act of declining or refusing something. 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.
verb declines · declining · declined · decline
- To move downwards, to fall, to drop. The dollar has declined rapidly since 2001.
- To become weaker or worse. My health declined in winter.
- To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall. in melancholy site, with head declined
- To cause to decrease or diminish. You have declin'd his means.
- To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw. a line that declines from straightness
- To choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain. Could I decline this dreadful hour?
- To inflect for case, number, gender, and the like.
- To recite all the different declined forms of (a word): to recite its declension. after the first declining of a noun and a verb
- To run through from first to last; to recite in order as though declining a noun. 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[…]
- 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. The team chose to decline the fifteen-yard penalty because their receiver had caught the ball for a thirty-yard gain.
