decline
noun · verb
Simple meaning
To become smaller, weaker or worse over time.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihklynSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪkˈlaɪn
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The act of declining or refusing something.
A downward slope or bend
A condition inferior to an earlier condition; a gradual falling off from a better state
A deterioration of condition; a weakening or worsening.
Downward movement, fall.
A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.
verb
transitive
To choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain.
Grow worse
intransitive
To become weaker or worse.
intransitive
To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
transitive
To cause to decrease or diminish.
transitive
To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The act of declining or refusing something.
Used this way, decline is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use decline
- “In many languages, speakers decline nouns, pronouns, and adjectives.”verb
- “He declined to join the group on a hike.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A condition inferior to an earlier condition.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Process of changing to an inferior state.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Say it better
Looking for a more precise alternative? “decline” can mean several things.
I'm going to pass this time.Thanks for thinking of me, but I can't take this on.I don't have the capacity for this right now.
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.