decrease

1 of 2

verb

decreased; decreasing

intransitive verb

: to grow progressively less (as in size, amount, number, or intensity)
Yearly sales decreased by five percent.
His little remaining strength had been decreasing rapidly for two or three days preceding …Charles Dickens

transitive verb

: to cause to decrease
decrease the risk of heart disease
trying to decrease our use of fossil fuels
decreasingly adverb

decrease

2 of 2

noun

1
: the process of growing progressively less (as in size, amount, number, or intensity) : the process of decreasing
a decrease in productivity
2
: an amount of diminution : reduction
a decrease of 20,000
saw a 20% decrease in violent crime
Choose the Right Synonym for decrease

decrease, lessen, diminish, reduce, abate, dwindle mean to grow or make less.

decrease suggests a progressive decline in size, amount, numbers, or intensity.

slowly decreased the amount of pressure

lessen suggests a decline in amount rather than in number.

has been unable to lessen her debt

diminish emphasizes a perceptible loss and implies its subtraction from a total.

his visual acuity has diminished

reduce implies a bringing down or lowering.

you must reduce your caloric intake

abate implies a reducing of something excessive or oppressive in force or amount.

the storm abated

dwindle implies progressive lessening and is applied to things growing visibly smaller.

their provisions dwindled slowly

Examples of decrease in a Sentence

Verb Sales decreased by five percent this year. The driver decreased her speed as she approached the curve. These changes will decrease our expenses. Noun Studies report a recent decrease in traffic accidents. Because of the injury, some decrease in mobility is to be expected. a decrease of three dollars
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
In Maryland and Virginia, where fare evasion is already considered a criminal violation with fines up to $100, the number of citations decreased by 40 percent. Danny Nguyen, Washington Post, 23 Mar. 2024 Weeds also appear more in the summer, but pollen counts are better overall since the amount coming from trees decrease in the fall. Tiffani Jackson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 Mar. 2024 The report also showed signs of overdose rates decreasing among young people but increasing in older populations. Lev Facher Reprints, STAT, 21 Mar. 2024 But, since the start of the war, the I.P.S. has actually been allowed both by legislators and, later on, by the Supreme Court, to decrease even that, which means that people are now being made to sleep on the floor. Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2024 While deaths from heroin and natural opioids such as morphine and oxycodone decreased, deaths from fentanyl and other synthetic opioids continued their steep upward trend. Deidre McPhillips, CNN, 21 Mar. 2024 The lawsuit was filed in 2019 in the the Supreme Court of Australia’s Victoria state on behalf of over 8,000 car service owners and drivers who allegedly lost income and saw their license values decrease when the ride-sharing app entered the market. Bruce Gil, Quartz, 18 Mar. 2024 In fact, research shows us that micro-interventions of even 15 minutes can increase prosocial behaviors and decrease selfish behaviors in as little as a week–and the response is dose-dependent. Talia Varley, Fortune, 12 Mar. 2024 By 2015, these numbers had fallen, as the U.S. presence plunged in Iraq and decreased substantially in Afghanistan; the total fell further after the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Daniel Byman, Foreign Affairs, 12 Mar. 2024
Noun
The largest decrease was in construction, with 9,600 jobs lost — a reflection of disruptions from a series of strong storms that hit the state in February. Adam Beam, Quartz, 22 Mar. 2024 This decrease was primarily due to in-process research and development expense of $1.8 million in 2022 associated with our licensing of the DNase platform for which there was no similar expense in 2023. Miami Herald, 22 Mar. 2024 Branch also expects a decrease in demand from consumers, especially as people are already struggling to purchase daily necessities amid high inflation. Kathleen Wong, USA TODAY, 19 Mar. 2024 Wisconsin and Indiana, states where total bans were in effect for much of 2023, also had big decreases. Kimberlee Speakman, Peoplemag, 19 Mar. 2024 The report looks at over a million active listings in the 100 largest cities in America – including Arizona. Valley cities like Scottsdale and Glendale showed a significant decrease in rent rates. The Arizona Republic, 19 Mar. 2024 One of our editors, who recently had foot surgery, noted a significant decrease in pain and swelling after wearing the socks for 12 hours per day over three weeks. Nsisong Bassey, Verywell Health, 15 Mar. 2024 If passed, city officials have said the majority of businesses affected would receive a tax decrease and major corporations would face the brunt of increasing rates. Ishani Desai, Sacramento Bee, 6 Mar. 2024 The decrease in operating income despite an increase in gross margin is primarily due to an increase in operating expenses. Miami Herald, 7 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'decrease.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb and Noun

Middle English decreessen, from Anglo-French decrestre, from Latin decrescere, from de- + crescere to grow — more at crescent

First Known Use

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of decrease was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near decrease

Cite this Entry

“Decrease.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decrease. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

decrease

1 of 2 verb
decreased; decreasing
: to make or become smaller
decrease speed
decrease 6 by 2

decrease

2 of 2 noun
1
: a process of decreasing
a decrease in accidents
2
: the amount by which a thing decreases
a decrease of three dollars

More from Merriam-Webster on decrease

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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