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decrease

verb · noun

Simple meaning

To become smaller.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dihkrees

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noun: deekreessverb: dihkreess

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

dɪkˈɹis

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. intransitive

    Of a quantity, to become smaller.

  2. transitive

    To make (a quantity) smaller.

noun

  1. The amount by which something decreases

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: Of a quantity, to become smaller.

Used this way, decrease is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Mild
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
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 decrease

  • “The amount of homework decreased towards the end of the semester.”verb
  • “There was a decrease in his temperature as the fever subsided.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

slight decreaserapid decrease

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • diminish

    To become less or smaller.

  • fall

    To become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc.).

  • lessen

    To become less.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • decreasedadjectiveInflected form

    Made less in size or amount or degree.

  • decreasingadjectiveInflected form

    Becoming less or smaller.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: of a quantity or to become smaller

falldiminishdecrement

Antonyms

Sense: of a quantity or to become smaller

increase

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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.