decrease

1. 1.

   decrease in size, extent, or range

   “The amount of homework decreased towards the end of the semester”

   “The cabin pressure fell dramatically”

   “her weight fell to under a hundred pounds”

   “his voice fell to a whisper”

   Synonymsdiminishlessenfall

   Antonymsincrease

   Broaderchange magnitude

   Narrowerbreakshrinktaperdrop offvanishease upweakenboil downshrivelabate
2. 2.

   make smaller

   “He decreased his staff”

   Synonymslessenminify

   Antonymsincrease

   Broaderchange

   Narrowersuppressmitigateparelimitreduce

Other forms of decrease

plural

decreases·

past tense

decreased·

present participle

decreasing·

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 decrease

What does decrease mean?

decrease means "a change downward". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in decrease?

decrease has 2 syllables: de-crease. The stress falls on "crease". In IPA it is /dɪˈkɹis/.

What is another word for decrease?

Close synonyms include lessening, drop-off, decrement, decrement, diminution. 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 decrease?

The recorded antonyms are increase, increase, increase, increase.

Is decrease a common word?

decrease 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 decrease?

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