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Decrease

[v. dih-krees; n. dee-krees, dih-krees]

verb (used without object)

to diminish or lessen in extent, quantity, strength, power, etc.: During the ten-day march across the desert their supply of water decreased rapidly.

verb (used with object)

to make less; cause to diminish: to decrease one's work load.

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Decrease is one of our favorite verbs.

So is kibitz. Does it mean:

to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.

chat, to converse

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noun

the act or process of decreasing; condition of being decreased; gradual reduction: a decrease in sales; a decrease in intensity.

the amount by which a thing is lessened: The decrease in sales was almost 20 percent.

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English decres (noun), decresen (v.) < Old French decreiss-, long stem of decreistre < Latin dēcrēscere (dē- de- + crēscere to grow); see crescent

Related forms

un·de·creased, adjective

Synonyms
1. wane, lessen, fall off, decline, contract, abate. Decrease, diminish, dwindle, shrink imply becoming smaller or less in amount. Decrease commonly implies a sustained reduction in stages, especially of bulk, size, volume, or quantity, often from some imperceptible cause or inherent process: The swelling decreased daily. Diminish usually implies the action of some external cause that keeps taking away: Disease caused the number of troops to diminish steadily. Dwindle implies an undesirable reduction by degrees, resulting in attenuation: His followers dwindled to a mere handful. Shrink especially implies contraction through an inherent property under specific conditions: Many fabrics shrink in hot water. 3. abatement, decline, subsidence, shrinking, dwindling, ebbing.

Antonyms
1. increase, expand.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To Decrease

Example Sentences

More than one-third reported a decrease in fall applications.

On one side, the more you decrease taxes, the greater the revenue.

The decrease in attacks could be due to fewer people in the water last year.

EXPAND

More than one-third reported a decrease in fall applications.

On one side, the more you decrease taxes, the greater the revenue.

The decrease in attacks could be due to fewer people in the water last year.

In fact, both are known to decrease during stepped-up activity, including exercise.

In principle, this decrease in energy can be compared with wood burning in a campfire.

If you really want to make it so that anybody can go into space, you have to increase the safety and decrease the cost.

We suggest that she decrease the size of her bottom margin.

The more woman get job, the more the rate of birth rate decrease.

Also unclear is whether surface wind speeds will continue to decrease in the coming decades.

The use of thorium can greatly decrease the use of uranium, but cannot eliminate it entirely.

Specifically, check to see if a decrease in displayed bars corresponds with an actual drop in call quality.

As the likelihood of suspensions increases, students' chances of making it to college decrease.

Also, corruption would decrease if the cartel's activity decreases due to legalization.

Scientists have observed a decrease in global species migrations and warn of the environmental consequences.

The theory: focusing on treatment and prevention instead of jailing users would decrease the number of deaths and infections.

Automakers aren't the only ones looking to increase fuel efficiency and decrease emissions.

Duckworth noted, bandwidth and management costs for colleges and universities will also decrease in the long run.

Brazil probably should decrease public spending, but their voting patterns fly in the face of these poll results.

By reducing your energy demand, you can dramatically decrease the overall price of a solar system.

Tips on what children and parents can do together to decrease their carbon footprint.

Then the electrical energy would come from the decrease in kinetic energy of the car.

If you want to improve the perception of security, you have to decrease common crimes, not the already-rare and dramatic crimes.

Terrestrial turtles also showed a major decrease in size.

Large parental age differences increase the risk for psychiatric disorders, whereas other environmental factors decrease risk.

There will be no decrease in the number of physics faculty.

The decrease was mainly due to a fall in inventories and so could overstate the slowdown.

Fortunately, many of the changes needed to decrease a carbon footprint also are beneficial for your health and save you money.

Brain scans show that scratching does indeed work to decrease unpleasantness.

With fuel prices on the rise, airlines will be looking for new ways to decrease fuel expenses.

He believes that this shift was due to a decrease in the amount of particulate material in the atmosphere.

Students will discuss the issue of water pollution and what can be done to decrease it.

X-rays would decrease it, neurotoxins would dcrease it, trauma at birth would decrease it.

When scooting the switch, the light output doesn't increase or decrease evenly.

Among the causes of the deceleration were slower consumption growth and a larger decrease in government spending.

Some areas have even experienced a temperature decrease.

Invasive species can decrease biodiversity and drive resident species to the brink of extinction.

Adding air resistance is going to increase the time it takes to get to the bottom of the swing, not decrease it.

What will the bill do to decrease such wasteful practices as prescribing.

Dumas found no decrease in performance when those women were compared to a normal group.

In the past, it was widely believed that a decrease in bone density was the main cause of osteoporotic fractures.

Reusing and recycling water helps decrease demand and ensure more water is available.

Thermal and acoustic sensors are two approaches that could decrease whale collisions with ships.

Then, over time, increase the depth of the water and decrease the frequency to encourage a deeper root system and stronger tree.

There is no decrease in the number of killed and only a slight reduction in the number hurt, as compared with last year's figures.

To increase and decrease the font size, pinch and zoom with two fingers on an article screen.

But without house payments, you can afford the wage decrease.

Thoennes said the state labor department was discussing the pending wage decrease with the attorney general's office.

If that were true, averaging the first and second guesses should decrease the accuracy.

Boiling water to make coffee or tea helped decrease the incidence of disease among workers in crowded cities.

The best way to increase usability is to decrease the amount of cognition necessary to find information:.

There has been a decrease in reports, but why that decrease has occurred is not clear.

What it fails to capture is the dramatic decrease in actual state dollars for higher education.

It is not yet clear whether the decrease in traffic has hit retailers.

After four weeks add weight and decrease to two sets of ten reps.

The decrease in progesterone is the signal that leads to menstruation.

And it would likely be a tremendous decrease from what one would make in industry.

It's not uncommon for manufacturers to price vehicles above their marginal cost as the cost will decrease over time.

These low-intensity fires are lit under safe weather conditions to decrease the amount of fuel-leaf.

The air continues to rise, expand and cool as atmospheric pressure and temperature decrease.

As computer circuitry advances, silicon chips decrease in size.

Instead, populations increase and decrease over time.

Fine-tuning bananas' ripening might also decrease peel friction, thus increasing their pratfall potential.

The bike also sports different geometry to decrease the turning radius and improve handling.

Our adult programs, consequently, are experiencing a steady decrease in enrollment a trend that has been developing for years.

The increase in aggression and decrease in foraging also support this hypothesis.

The theory behind predator control is that reducing the number of carnivores will decrease livestock losses.

It follows the larger-beaked finches decrease is due to factors inherent to the finches.

For the landing, he has to decrease his speed from whatever it is to zero in a short amount of time.

We deduct the monthly expenses on pay day so as to decrease the temptation to blow needed funds on something stupid.

It will decrease expenses for power later in the years to come.

Reusing and recycling water helps decrease demand and ensure more water is available for everyone.

After that its cost should decrease by a considerable amount.

Project backers believe that this will in turn decrease costs and improve access to education.

If graduating takes too long, then let's decrease the time.

Hopefully the next generation will be able to come up with new technology that will decrease the rising population effects.

As waves decrease in wavelength or increase in wave period, they become steeper.

It also does make sense to avoid a decrease in my publication rate if at all possible.

Using them in war will decrease the risk for soldiers dying because they can rely on the smartphones to detect where the enemy.

However, a decrease in the number and variety of autotrophs in an area can devastate the entire food chain.

Other experiments have shown that histamine-boosting drugs decrease ticlike behaviors in mice.

Societies don't die when they increase their longevity and decrease their birthrate.

But it is a good start that there have been some online actions taken to decrease the violence.

Decrease the heat and continue frying for about five minutes.

Whale and dolphin fins, flippers and tails are bumpy, which produce disturbed wakes that increase lift and decrease drag.

Researchers found that animals' oscillations per second tended to decrease with increasing body size.

Either of these schemes should decrease the use of fossil fuels and increase the use of alternatives.

And stick to organic cereals to decrease exposure to harmful chemicals in your food.

They behaved as if they were starving and compensated with an increase in food intake and a decrease in energy expenditure.

Both apparently want to decrease the mechanical royalty.

To bring things into equilibrium you must either increase supply or decrease demand for a university education.

Here are some things you can do to avoid electrical storms or decrease your chances of getting struck.

Injecting this bacteria into mice has already been shown to increase serotonin levels and decrease anxiety.

In such a state, that poor car's mileage could decrease by about half.

And the more a man or woman earns through paid work, the more they decrease.

But there the squid invasion has led to a decrease in the population of commercially valuable hake fish.

One solution to the problem could be to decrease the amount of water in the reservoir to provide more space for rainwater.

Every computer model of a stratospheric haze shows some decrease in rainfall, though the details vary.

But do these creeping quakes increase or decrease the threat.

Choose a lower audio bit rate for streaming music, and you'll decrease the amount of data you're transferring.

The more gradual the population decrease and leveling off the less disruptive it will.

Zinc supposedly helps the body's natural defenses work to their natural capacity and decrease the severity and length of a cold.

The government has agreed to recommend a decrease in his sentence for his cooperation.

Sadness leads to a slower pulse, raised blood pressure, a decrease in the skin's conductivity and a drop in body temperature.

Increase or decrease the number of sharks and other animals in the food web to see what the outcomes might be.

Is their athletic ability enhanced due to the increased or decrease in hormones.

Decrease in pressure could wreck the case's flexible-plastic portion.

The fact of the matter is that improvements can be made to decrease spending and improve all those other conditions as well.

Companies are doing extensive research to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, partially to reduce costs.

Aging populations and serious diseases are poised to decrease population growth in many areas.

Because the distance and the component of gravity decrease by the same factor, the travel time ends up being the same.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

decrease

—vb
1.	to diminish or cause to diminish in size, number, strength, etc

—n
2.	the act or process of diminishing; reduction
3.	the amount by which something has been diminished

[C14: from Old French descreistre, from Latin dēcrescere to grow less, from de- + crescere to grow]

de'creasing

—*adj*

de'creasingly

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

decrease

late 14c., from O.Fr. pp. stem of descreistre, from L. decrescere, from de- "away from" + crescere "to grow" (see crescent).

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