The Evolution of Declension

Declension came into English (via Middle French) in the first half of the 15th century, originating in the Latin verb declinare, meaning "to inflect" or "to turn aside." The word seems to have whiled away its time in the narrow field of grammar until Shakespeare put a new sense of the word in his play Richard III in 1593: "A beauty-waning and distressed widow / … Seduc'd the pitch and height of his degree / To base declension and loath'd bigamy." This "deterioration" sense led within a few decades to the newest sense of the word still in common use, "descent" or "slope." The 19th century saw still another new sense of the word—meaning "a courteous refusal"—but that sense has remained quite rare.

Examples of declension in a Sentence

a noticeable declension of the fitness of the baseball players over the winter a declension in her acting career from leading roles to cameos eventually

Recent Examples on the Web The experience of the pandemic was made ghastlier by being placed against the declension of Trumpism from evil to absurdity—who will ever forget Four Seasons Total Landscaping?—and then back into even darker evil again. — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, "Our Year in Hell," 31 Dec. 2020 Gender plays an integral role in many languages, from nouns assigned to a specific gender to adjectives changing their declensions based on the noun being described. — Madhvi Ramani, Smithsonian, "Will a New Law Forever Change the German Language?," 28 Feb. 2018 Gender plays an integral role in many languages, from nouns assigned to a specific gender to adjectives changing their declensions based on the noun being described. — Madhvi Ramani, Smithsonian, "Will a New Law Forever Change the German Language?," 28 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'declension.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.