diminish[verb]Synonyms:- decrease, curtail, cut, lessen, lower, reduce, shrink
- dwindle, decline, die out, recede, subside, wane
Contrasted words: aggravate, enhance, heighten, intensify
Related Words: ebb,
subside,
wane,
moderate,
temper,
attenuate,
extenuate
English Thesaurus: decrease, go down, decline, diminish, fall/drop, ... [TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲
di‧min‧ish AC /dəˈmɪnɪʃ, dɪˈmɪnɪʃ/
verb[
Date: 1400-1500;
Origin: diminue (14-16 centuries), from Old French diminuer, from Latin minuere 'to make less']
1. [intransitive and transitive] to become or make something become smaller or less
Synonym : reduce:
The party’s share of the electorate has diminished steadily. These drugs diminish blood flow to the brain.2. [transitive] to deliberately make someone or something appear less important or valuable than they really are:
Don’t let him diminish your achievements. But that’s not to diminish the importance of his discoveries.3. diminishing returns when the profits or advantages you are getting from something stop increasing in relation to the effort you are making
[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲
decrease to become less in number or amount:
The average rainfall has decreased by around 30 percent.go down to decrease.
Go down is less formal than
decrease and is the usual word to use in conversation:
Unemployment has gone down in the past few months.decline formal to decrease – used with numbers or amounts, or about the level or standard of something:
The standard of living has declined. Support for the government is steadily declining. Salaries have declined by around 4.5%.diminish to become smaller or less important:
Union membership diminished from 30,000 at its height to just 2,000 today.fall/drop to decrease, especially by a large amount.
Fall and
drop are less formal than
decrease:
The number of tigers in the wild has fallen to just over 10,000. At night, the temperature drops to minus 20 degrees.plunge /plʌndʒ/
plummet /ˈplʌmət, ˈplʌmɪt/ to suddenly decrease very quickly and by a very large amount:
Share prices have plummeted 29% in the last four months. Climate change could cause global temperatures to plummet.slide if a price or value slides, it gradually decreases in a way that causes problems – used especially in news reports:
The dollar fell in late trading in New York yesterday and slid further this morning.dwindle /ˈdwɪndl/ to gradually decrease until there is very little left of something, especially numbers or amounts, popularity, or importance:
Support for the theory is dwindling.taper off /ˈteɪpə $ -ər/ if a number or the amount of an activity that is happening tapers off, it gradually decreases, especially so that it stops completely:
Political violence tapered off after the elections.reduction used when the price, amount, or level of something is made lower:
There will be further price reductions in the sales. A small reduction in costs can mean a large increase in profits.cut used when a government or company reduces the price, amount, or level of something:
a 1% cut in interest rates tax cuts It is possible that there will be further job cuts.drop/fall used when the number, amount, or level of something goes down, especially by a large amount:
The figures showed a sharp fall in industrial output. There was a dramatic drop in temperature. [TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲