Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use decline in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Decline means downward movement, fall. Example: “The aircraft went into a sudden decline before the pilot regained control.”

Examples of decline by meaning

nounDownward movement, fall.

  • The aircraft went into a sudden decline before the pilot regained control.

nounA sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.

  • After taking a right from that turn a decline will come into view.

nounA deterioration of condition; a weakening or worsening.

  • He has experienced a sudden decline in his health.
  • Educational standards are on the decline.
  • The country's global reputation is in decline.

nounA reduction or diminution of activity, prevalence or quantity.

  • Population decline is a major concern.
  • Town-centre retailers have seen a decline in footfall.
  • It is also pertinent to note that the current obvious decline in work on holarctic hepatics most surely reflects a current obsession with cataloging and with nomenclature of the organisms—as divorced from their study as living entities.1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill....

verbTo 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...

verbTo 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
  • 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

verbTo turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.

  • a line that declines from straightness
  • conduct that declines from sound morals

verbTo choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain.

  • On reflection I think I will decline your generous offer.

More sentences with decline

  • They were awake to the possibility of a decline in sales.From the entry awake
  • The market decline was terrible, but the shorts were buying champagne.From the entry short
  • Your credit card has been declined so you need to provide some other tender such as cash.From the entry tender
  • On this occasion, I'm going to decline your offer, but next time I might agree.From the entry occasion
  • Her father suggested that she decline the job because it was a dead end.From the entry dead end
  • After the nomination, he was required to accept or decline the offer.From the entry nomination
  • Critics of contemporary culture generally posit a steep decline in cultural literacy.From the entry cultural literacy
  • Work in progress has dramatically declined due to reduced production cycle times.From the entry work in progress
  • The company's rumored losses led to a sharp decline in share price.From the entry rumored
  • The titleholder of the world championship was dethroned when he declined to defend his title.From the entry titleholder
  • The supermarket's unmatchably low prices were accompanied by a deliberate decline in quality.From the entry unmatchably
  • For some reason or other he declined to answer the question.From the entry some something or other
  • He declined to take part in the meeting because he did not feel he had anything to add.From the entry take part
  • Sales are down due to a decline in store traffic.From the entry traffic
  • There have been calls for research into the pesticides that are blamed for the decline in bee populations.From the entry into
  • He feared the speedy decline of all manhood.From the entry manhood
  • The stock market decline wouldn’t have hurt him so badly if he hadn’t had all his eggs in one basket.From the entry all one's eggs in one basket
  • Maturely, she simply declined to participate in the ceremony.From the entry maturely
  • There has been a decline in noncardiac deaths this year.From the entry noncardiac
  • He declined at first, but when his hosts insisted, he bowed to local custom and played his part in the ritual.From the entry bow to
  • Her theory posits that secular religions will rush in to fill the cultural void left by the decline of religiosity.From the entry secular religion
  • I decline your offer to contract.From the entry offer
  • As a result of the rise of, first, television news and entertainment media and, second, web-based media, traditional print-based media has declined in popularity.From the entry media
  • They offered me a deployment overseas to see some action, but I declined. I prefer just staying in the rear with the gear.From the entry in the rear with the gear

Meaning of decline

  1. noun Downward movement, fall.
  2. noun A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.
  3. noun A deterioration of condition; a weakening or worsening.

Full definition of decline

Questions about decline in a sentence

How do you use decline in a sentence?
Decline is used as a noun and verb. For example: “The aircraft went into a sudden decline before the pilot regained control.”
What is a short sentence with decline?
“My health declined in winter.”
What does decline mean?
Decline means downward movement, fall.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: decline (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use decline in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/decline. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.