decrease
pronunciation
How to pronounce decrease in British English:
UK [dɪˈkriːs , ˈdiːkriːs]
How to pronounce decrease in American English:
US [dɪˈkriːs , ˈdiːkriːs]
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- Noun:
- a change downward
- a process of becoming smaller or shorter
- the amount by which something decreases
- the act of decreasing or reducing something
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- Verb:
- decrease in size, extent, or range
- make smaller
Word Origin
- decrease
- decrease: [14] Etymologically, decrease means ‘ungrow’. It comes from de(s)creiss-, the present stem of Old French de(s)creistre, which was a descendant of Vulgar Latin discrēscēre. This was an alteration of Latin dēcrēscēre, a compound verb formed from the prefix dē-, denoting reversal of a previous condition, and crēscēre ‘grow’ (source of English crescent and a wide range of other words).=> crescent, croissant, increase
- decrease (v.)
- late 14c., from Anglo-French decreiss-, present participle stem of decreistre, Old French descroistre (12c., Modern French décroître), from Latin decrescere "to grow less, diminish," from de- "away from" (see de-) + crescere "to grow" (see crescent). Related: Decreased; decreasing.
- decrease (n.)
- late 14c., "detriment, harm;" early 15c. as "a becoming less or smaller," from Anglo-French decres; see decrease (v.).
Example
- 1. But contact between the two schools will decrease .
- 2. Some women find a decrease in sexual sensation after an episiotomy .
- 3. Meanwhile , the chinese working population will start to decrease from 2015 .
- 4. But an open-source approach to hardware might decrease that difference .
- 5. Many genes have been identified that either increase or decrease appetite .