decline

Syllables: de·cline/dɪˈklaɪn/

decline noun: downward movement, fall.

Noun

decline (countable and uncountable, plural declines)

(dynamically) Downward movement, fall.
- The aircraft went into a sudden decline before the pilot regained control.
Synonyms:

descent
A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.
- After taking a right from that turn a decline will come into view.
A deterioration of condition; a weakening or worsening.
- He has experienced a sudden decline in his health.
- Educational standards are on the decline.
Synonyms:

descent
A reduction or diminution of activity, prevalence or quantity.
- Population decline is a major concern.
- Town-centre retailers have seen a decline in footfall.
The act of declining or refusing something.
- The issuing bank only checks the consumer's credit card number for authorization. […] Soft declines are those declines in which the bank requires further verification.2004, David A. Montague, Fraud Prevention Techniques for Credit Card Fraud

Verb

decline (third-person singular simple present declines, present participle declining, simple past and past participle declined)

(intransitive) To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
- The dollar has declined rapidly since 2001.
- Only empirical observation, and not deduction from the nature of the profit rate, can tell us whether it does tend permanently to decline; and such observation is not found to confirm Marx's theory.1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in...
(intransitive) To become weaker or worse.
- My health declined in winter.
- After her sother died, Connie began to decline noticeably.1982 February 13, Nancy Walker, “Connie”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 29, page 10
(transitive) To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
- in melancholy site, with head declineda. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC
- And now faire Phoebus gan decline in hast / His weary wagon to the Westerne vale.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 10
(transitive) To cause to decrease or diminish.
- You have declin'd his means.1612–1613, Nathan Field, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Honest Mans Fortune”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647...
- He knoweth his error, but will not seek to decline it.1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC
To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.
- a line that declines from straightness
- conduct that declines from sound morals
(transitive) To choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain.
- Could I decline this dreadful hour?1626, Philip Massinger, The Roman Actor
- “[…] This is Mr. Churchill, who, as you are aware, is good enough to come to us for his diaconate, and, as we hope, for much longer; and being a gentleman of independent means, he declines to take any payment.” Saying this Walden rubbed his hands together and smiled contentedly.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
(transitive, usually, adjectives and pronouns) To inflect for case, number, gender, and the like.

Synonyms:

declense
(transitive) To recite all the different declined forms of (a word): to recite its declension.
- after the first declining of a noun and a verb1570, Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster, 1st edition
Synonyms:

declense
(broadly) To run through from first to last; to recite in order as though declining a noun.
- Decline all this, and see what now thou art. For happy wife, a most distressed widow;
  For joyful mother, one that wails the name;
  For one being sued to, one that humbly sues;
  For queen , a very caitiff crown'd with care[…]c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
(Canadian) To reject a penalty against the opposing team, usually because the result of accepting it would benefit the non-penalized team less than the preceding play.
- The team chose to decline the fifteen-yard penalty because their receiver had caught the ball for a thirty-yard gain.

decline meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

decline in Hindi

downward movement, fall: गिरावट girāvaṭ
sloping downward: गिरना girnā
deterioration of condition; weakening or worsening: पतन patan, अधोगति adhogti
move downwards: गिरना girnā

decline in Tamil

அழுகுதல், சிதைதல், சிதைவு, நலிவு, பிறழ்வு, சரிவு

decline in Marathi

decline, deterioration: अधोगती adhogatī
to decline: नकारणे nakārṇe

decline in Urdu

decline, decrease: گھاٹا ghāṭā
to decline; fall: تھکنا thaknā

More languagesFewer languages

decline in Bengali: পতন poton
decline in Telugu: తగ్గుదల, తగ్గుముఖం, క్షీణత
decline in Malayalam: ഇടിവ് iṭivŭ, അധഃപതിക്കുക adhaḥpatikkuka
decline in Kannada: ಇಳಿತ, ಕುಗ್ಗುವಿಕೆ, ಅವನತಿ, ಕಡೆಗಾಣಿಕೆ
decline in Punjabi: ਜ਼ਵਾਲ zavāl
decline in Sanskrit: भ्रंशते bhraṃśate
decline in Nepali: गिरावट
decline in Arabic: رَفَضَ rafaḍa
decline in Indonesian: kejatuhan, kemerosotan, kemunduran, merosot

Examples of decline in a sentence

The country's global reputation is in decline.
On reflection I think I will decline your generous offer.
"It knows it has to plan for managed decline, but it can't even plan for managed decline if it doesn't know how much decline to manage."2022 March 23, Paul Clifton, “Londoners pay the price”, in RAIL, number 953, page 48:
If so, passengers on the West of England line are in for a rough ride, as the reliability of these tired old British Rail trains inevitably declines, and maintenance costs rise.2026 February 18, Paul Clifton, “West of England Line problems laid bare”, in RAIL, page 7:
Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 99:157:

All 40 example sentences with decline

Synonyms of decline

Antonyms

incline

Forms of decline

Noun
plural	declines
Verb
third-person singular present	declines
present participle	declining
past participle	declined
past	declined
second-person singular present (archaic)	declinest
second-person singular past (archaic)	declinedst
third-person singular present (archaic)	declineth

Past tense of decline: declined

Plural of decline: declines

Origin of decline

From Middle English declinen, and ultimately Latin declīnō (“to bend, turn aside, deflect, inflect, decline”, from dē- (“down”) + clīnō (“to bend, to incline”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (English lean). The senses arrived from two separate pathways in Middle English: * The grammatical sense came from Old English declīnian, which was borrowed directly from the Latin etymon. * All senses except the grammatical sense were derived from those of Old French decliner. Old French itself borrowed the verb from Latin.

Words formed from decline

Words that rhyme with decline

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about decline

What does decline mean?: Decline means downward movement, fall.
What is decline in Hindi?: Decline in Hindi is गिरावट (girāvaṭ), गिरना (girnā), पतन (patan). See Decline meaning in Hindi.
How do you use decline in a sentence?: The country's global reputation is in decline.
What part of speech is decline?: Decline can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce decline?: Decline is pronounced /dɪˈklaɪn/.
What is the plural of decline?: The plural of decline is declines.

Words near decline in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-decline.ogg.

Cite this entry: “decline.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/decline. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.