decline

noun

The act of declining or refusing something.

A deterioration of condition; a weakening or worsening.

A reduction or diminution of activity, prevalence or quantity.

Downward movement, fall.

A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.

verb

(transitive) To choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain.

(intransitive) To become weaker or worse.

(intransitive) To move downwards, to fall, to drop.

(transitive) To cause to decrease or diminish.

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

To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.

(transitive, grammar, usually of substantives, adjectives and pronouns) To inflect for case, number, gender, and the like.

(transitive, grammar) To recite all the different declined forms of (a word): to recite its declension.

(by extension) To run through from first to last; to recite in order as though declining a noun.

(American football, Canadian football) 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.

Roots

clinoclin- · Latin · lean, bend

Words related to decline

declinern downfallenv diminishmentn upswingv uptickn nosediven dwindledv dwindlesv shrinkingn precipitousadj downwardadj detractiveadj upturnn uptrendn

Synonyms & related words for decline

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of decline — including slump, diminution, wane, fall, falloff, declination. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to decline

Explore words related to decline — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include decliner, downfallen, diminishment, upswing, uptick, nosedive, dwindled, dwindles. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for decline

Common synonyms for decline include slump, diminution, wane, fall, falloff, declination, downturn, decay — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does decline come from?

The word decline breaks down into one root of Latin origin: the root clin-, from Latin clino (“lean, bend”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.