declension - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

de·clen·sion

Audio Help [di-klen-shuh

n] Pronunciation Key

–noun

Grammar.

a.	the inflection of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives for categories such as case and number.

b.	the whole set of inflected forms of such a word, or the recital thereof in a fixed order.

c.	a class of such words having similar sets of inflected forms: the Latin second declension.

2.	an act or instance of declining.

3.	a bending, sloping, or moving downward: land with a gentle declension toward the sea.

4.	deterioration; decline.

5.	deviation, as from a standard.

[Origin: 1400–50; late ME declenson, declynson (with suffix later assimilated to -sion), by stress retraction and syncope < OF declinaison < L déclīnātiō declination

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

de·clen·sion Audio Help (dĭ-klěn'shən) Pronunciation Key
n.

Linguistics
1. In certain languages, the inflection of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in categories such as case, number, and gender.
2. A class of words of one language with the same or a similar system of inflections, such as the first declension in Latin.
A descending slope; a descent.
A decline or decrease; deterioration: "States and empires have their periods of declension" (Laurence Sterne).
A deviation, as from a standard or practice.

[Middle English declenson, from Old French declinaison, from Latin dēclīnātiō, dēclīnātiōn-, grammatical declension, declination; see declination.]

de·clen'sion·al adj.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

declension
noun
1.	the inflection of nouns and pronouns and adjectives in Indo-European languages
2.	process of changing to an inferior state [syn: deterioration]
3.	a downward slope or bend [syn: descent] [ant: acclivity]
4.	a class of nouns or pronouns or adjectives in Indo-European languages having the same (or very similar) inflectional forms; "the first declension in Latin"

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Declension

De*clen"sion\, n. [Apparently corrupted fr. F. d['e]clinaison, fr. L. declinatio, fr. declinare. See Decline, and cf. Declination.]

1. The act or the state of declining; declination; descent; slope.

The declension of the land from that place to the sea. --T. Burnet.

2. A falling off towards a worse state; a downward tendency; deterioration; decay; as, the declension of virtue, of science, of a state, etc.

Seduced the pitch and height of all his thoughts To base declension. --Shak.

3. Act of courteously refusing; act of declining; a declinature; refusal; as, the declension of a nomination.

4. (Gram.) (a) Inflection of nouns, adjectives, etc., according to the grammatical cases. (b) The form of the inflection of a word declined by cases; as, the first or the second declension of nouns, adjectives, etc. (c) Rehearsing a word as declined.

Note: The nominative was held to be the primary and original form, and was likened to a perpendicular line; the variations, or oblique cases, were regarded as fallings (hence called casus, cases, or fallings) from the nominative or perpendicular; and an enumerating of the various forms, being a sort of progressive descent from the noun's upright form, was called a declension. --Harris.

Declension of the needle, declination of the needle.

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