decrease meaning: definition, etymology

decrease

verb

/dɪˈkɹiːs/ · /ˈdiːkɹiːs/

Etymology From Middle English decresen, alteration of discresen, from Anglo-Norman, Old French descreistre (French: décroître), from Latin decrescere.

Of a quantity, to become smaller.

The quality of our products has decreased since the main designer left.

To make (a quantity) smaller.

Let's decrease the volume a little so we can hear each other talking.

Synonyms: drop, fall, go down, plummet, plunge, reduce, shrink, sink, abate, cut, decrement, lower, decrease, diminish, wane, slump, lessen
Antonyms: go up, grow, increase, rise, soar, shoot up, increment, raise, up
Derived terms: decreasable, decreasement, decreaser, decreasing function, decreasingly, decreasing term assurance, monotonic decreasing, nondecreasing, non-decreasing, redecrease, undecreased, undecreasing
Related terms: decrescendo, decretion, increase
Hypernyms: happen
Hyponyms: plummet, plunge

decrease

noun

Etymology From Middle English decresen, alteration of discresen, from Anglo-Norman, Old French descreistre (French: décroître), from Latin decrescere.

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.
One research team has recorded Baishui’s decrease at about 27 meters per year over the last 10 years.

Business, Knitting, Manufacturing, Textiles 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: cut, decline, decrement, drop, fall, loss, lowering, reduction, shrinkage
Antonyms: gain, increase, increment, raise, rise
Derived terms: decreaseless, nondecrease

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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