decrease

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

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

Verb

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.

Synonyms

• (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

Antonyms

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

Related terms

• decretion
• increase

Translations

become smaller

• Armenian: փոքրանալ (hy) (pʻokʻranal), պակասել (hy) (pakasel)
• Assamese: কমা (koma)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܒܵܨܹܪ (bāṣēr)
• Azerbaijani: azalmaq (az), düşmək (az) (with ablative)
• Bulgarian: намаля́вам се (namaljávam se)
• Catalan: decréixer (ca), disminuir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 減少 / 减少 (zh) (jiǎnshǎo), 下降 (zh) (xiàjiàng)

• Danish: formindske, forringe (da)
• Dutch: afnemen (nl), verminderen (nl)
• Esperanto: malpliiĝi, malaltiĝi
• Finnish: vähentyä (fi), pienentyä (fi), pienetä (fi), vähetä (fi)
• French: diminuer (fr)
• Galician: diminuír (gl), minguar (gl)
• Gallurese: affluscià
• German: abnehmen (de)

  Alemannic German: schwiine

• Greek: μειώνομαι (el) (meiónomai), λιγοστεύω (el) (ligostévo)

  Ancient: μινύθω (minúthō)

• Hebrew: פחת (he) (pakhát)
• Hungarian: csökken (hu)
• Ido: diminutar (io)
• Irish: laghdaigh
• Italian: diminuire (it), calare (it)
• Japanese: 減少する (ja) (げんしょうする, genshō suru), 減る (ja) (へる, heru)
• Kazakh: азаю (azayuw)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish:

• Maori: pāitiiti
• Middle English: discresen
• Norwegian: forminske (no), forringe
• Persian: کاستن (fa) (kâstan)
• Portuguese: diminuir (pt), reduzir (pt)
• Romanian: descrește (ro), scădea (ro)
• Russian: уменьша́ться (ru) impf (umenʹšátʹsja), уме́ньшиться (ru) pf (uménʹšitʹsja), снижа́ться (ru) impf (snižátʹsja), сни́зиться (ru) pf (snízitʹsja), понижа́ться (ru) impf (ponižátʹsja), пони́зиться (ru) pf (ponízitʹsja)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: calai, menguai

  Logudorese: menguare, minimare

• Sassarese: miminà, abbracà
• Spanish: disminuir (es), mermar (es)
• Swedish: minska (sv)
• Turkish: azalmak (tr), düşmek (tr)

make smaller

• Assamese: কমোৱা (komüa)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܡܲܒܨܸܪ (mabṣir)
• Azerbaijani: azaltmaq (az)
• Bulgarian: намаля́вам (bg) (namaljávam)
• Catalan: disminuir (ca)
• Czech: snížit (cs)
• Dutch: verminderen (nl)
• Esperanto: malpliigi, malaltigi (eo)
• Finnish: laskea (fi), vähentää (fi), pienentää (fi)
• French: diminuer (fr), réduire (fr)
• Galician: minguar (gl), diminuír (gl)
• German: verringern (de)
• Greek: μειώνω (el) (meióno), ελαττώνω (el) (elattóno)
• Hebrew: הפחית (hifkhít)
• Hungarian: csökkent (hu)
• Ido: diminutar (io)
• Ingrian: vähentää
• Irish: laghdaigh
• Italian: diminuire (it), far calare, ribassare (it), ridurre (it), decrementare
• Japanese: 減少させる (ja) (げんしょうさせる, genshō saseru), 減らす (ja) (へらす, herasu)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish:

• Middle English: discresen
• Portuguese: diminuir (pt), reduzir (pt)
• Russian: уменьша́ть (ru) impf (umenʹšátʹ), уме́ньшить (ru) pf (uménʹšitʹ), понижа́ть (ru) impf (ponižátʹ), пони́зить (ru) pf (ponízitʹ), снижа́ть (ru) impf (snižátʹ), сни́зить (ru) pf (snízitʹ)
• Sardinian:

  Logudorese: mèngua

• Spanish: disminuir (es), mermar (es)
• Swedish: minska (sv), förringa (sv)
• Turkish: azaltmak (tr), düşürmek (tr)
• Vietnamese: hạ (vi)

Noun

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).

Synonyms

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

Antonyms

• (amount by which a quantity is decreased): gain, increase, increment, raise (US, of pay), rise

Translations

amount by which a quantity decreases or is decreased

• Bulgarian: намаляване (bg) n (namaljavane), намаление (bg) n (namalenie)
• Catalan: disminució f, decreixença f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 減少 / 减少 (zh) (jiǎnshǎo)

• Finnish: lasku (fi), vähenemä, vähennys (fi)
• Galician: diminución (gl) f, mingua f, devalo m
• German: Verringerung (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἐλάττωσις (eláttōsis)

• Hungarian: csökkenés (hu)
• Irish: laghdú m
• Italian: diminuzione (it) f, calo (it) m, ribasso (it) m, riduzione (it) f
• Japanese: 減少 (ja) (げんしょう, genshō)
• Latin: dēcrēmentum (la) n
• Maori: ero
• Norwegian: forringelse
• Old English: æfwela m (of wealth)
• Persian: کاهش (fa) (kâheš)
• Polish: spadek (pl) m, ubytek (pl) m
• Portuguese: redução (pt) f, diminuição (pt) f
• Quechua: yawyay
• Russian: уменьше́ние (ru) n (umenʹšénije), сниже́ние (ru) n (snižénije)
• Spanish: disminución (es) f, merma (es)
• Swedish: minskning (sv) c
• Ukrainian: зме́ншення n (zménšennja), зни́ження n (znýžennja)

Anagrams

• deceaser