decline

1. 1.

   change toward something smaller or lower

   Synonymsdiminution

   Broaderdecrease

   Narrowerdeteriorationdetumescenceebberosionlossnosedivesinking spellslippage
2. 2.

   a condition inferior to an earlier condition; a gradual falling off from a better state

   Synonymsdeclination

   Antonymsimprovement

   Broadercondition

   Narrowerneglecttwilightwreck
3. 3.

   a gradual decrease; as of stored charge or current

   Synonymsdecay

   Broaderdecrease

   Narrowerexponential decay
4. 4.

   a downward slope or bend

   Synonymsdescentdeclivityfalldeclinationdeclensiondownslope

   Broaderslope

   Narrowerdownhillsteep

Other forms of decline

plural

declines·

past tense

declined·

present participle

declining·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about decline

What does decline mean?

decline means "grow worse". That is the primary sense; the word has 11 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in decline?

decline has 2 syllables: de-cline. The stress falls on "cline". In IPA it is /dɪˈklaɪn/.

What is another word for decline?

Close synonyms include worsen, refuse, reject, pass up, turn down. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of decline?

The recorded antonyms are improvement.

Is decline a common word?

decline is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with decline?

6 words rhyme with decline. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.