decrease

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (verb) enPR: dĭkrēs', IPA^(key): /dɪˈkɹiːs/
• (noun) enPR: dē'krēs, IPA^(key): /ˈdiːkɹiːs/
• Rhymes: -iːs

decrease (third-person singular simple present decreases, present participle decreasing, simple past and past participle decreased)

1. (intransitive) Of a quantity, to become smaller.

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

2. (transitive) To make (a quantity) smaller.

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

• (become smaller): drop, fall, go down, plummet (rapidly), plunge (rapidly), reduce, shrink, sink; See also Thesaurus:decrease
• (make smaller): abate, cut, decrement, lower, reduce; See also Thesaurus:diminish

• (antonym(s) of “become larger”): go up, grow, increase, rise, soar (rapidly), shoot up (rapidly); See also Thesaurus:increase
• (antonym(s) of “make larger”): increase, increment, raise, up (informal); See also Thesaurus:augment

• decretion
• increase

decrease (countable and uncountable, plural decreases)

1. 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.

2. (knitting) 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).

• (amount by which a quantity decreases or is decreased): cut, decline, decrement, drop, fall, loss, lowering, reduction, shrinkage

• (antonym(s) of “amount by which a quantity decreases or is decreased”): gain, increase, increment, raise (US, of pay), rise

• deceaser