as in bowing
bending downward or forward
we awaited our punishment with declined heads
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in refused
to show unwillingness to accept, do, engage in, or agree to
he declined the invitation to the party she declined to participate in the soccer game
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in denied
to be unwilling to grant
declined our request to hold a party
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in fell
to go to a lower level especially abruptly
new-car sales declined to their lowest level in years
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in deteriorated
to become worse or of less value
his reputation as a writer began to decline not long after his death
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
5
as in decreased
to grow less in scope or intensity especially gradually
the winds should decline as soon as the cold front passes
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
6
as in plunged
to lead or extend downward
the bike path declines toward the riverbank and then follows the river for several miles
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of declined
Bailey Richards, PEOPLE, 18 Oct. 2025
After crunching the numbers to exclude armies of data-scraping AI bots, the Wikimedia Foundation says that between March and August this year, the number of Wikipedia page views coming from real humans declined by 8% year-on-year.
—PC Magazine, 18 Oct. 2025
Meanwhile, fully remote working arrangements for open positions have declined, and more employers are adopting hybrid arrangements requiring tech talent to spend three or more days in the office.
—Nino Paoli, Fortune, 18 Oct. 2025
Global warming pushes Arctic seals closer to extinction The IUCN update shows that the hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) has declined from vulnerable to endangered, and the bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus) and harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) have moved from least-concern to near-threatened.
—Doyle Rice, USA Today, 18 Oct. 2025
Lamb declined to provide evidence of this claim.
—Peter D'abrosca, FOXNews.com, 18 Oct. 2025
Almost all currencies have declined in value over time.
—Alex Crippen, CNBC, 18 Oct. 2025
Ratings for the national championship between Ohio State and Notre Dame in January declined about 12 percent from the 2023 title game between Michigan and Washington.
—Jordan Sigler, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Oct. 2025
Through his attorney, Farley has consistently declined to comment on the allegations against him.
—Meena Duerson, CNN Money, 11 Oct. 2025
Verb
Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Ashley Toczylowski previously declined to comment on whether King is linked to the alleged harassing phone calls.
—Bailey Richards, PEOPLE, 18 Oct. 2025
After crunching the numbers to exclude armies of data-scraping AI bots, the Wikimedia Foundation says that between March and August this year, the number of Wikipedia page views coming from real humans declined by 8% year-on-year.
—PC Magazine, 18 Oct. 2025
Meanwhile, fully remote working arrangements for open positions have declined, and more employers are adopting hybrid arrangements requiring tech talent to spend three or more days in the office.
—Nino Paoli, Fortune, 18 Oct. 2025
Global warming pushes Arctic seals closer to extinction The IUCN update shows that the hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) has declined from vulnerable to endangered, and the bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus) and harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) have moved from least-concern to near-threatened.
—Doyle Rice, USA Today, 18 Oct. 2025
Lamb declined to provide evidence of this claim.
—Peter D'abrosca, FOXNews.com, 18 Oct. 2025
Almost all currencies have declined in value over time.
—Alex Crippen, CNBC, 18 Oct. 2025
Ratings for the national championship between Ohio State and Notre Dame in January declined about 12 percent from the 2023 title game between Michigan and Washington.
—Jordan Sigler, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Oct. 2025
Through his attorney, Farley has consistently declined to comment on the allegations against him.
—Meena Duerson, CNN Money, 11 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for declined
Verb
-
Through more than a decade of running a business and raising a son, Whebbe and Paoli refused to give up on getting the Book Lady’s books into the hands of people who will love them.—
Mary Ann Grossmann,
Twin Cities,
20 Oct. 2025
-
While thousands focused on the federal government at the rally, at least one woman seemed more concentrated on calling out how Attorney General Andrea Campbell has refused to enforce the legislative audit that state voters approved last November.—
Lance Reynolds,
Boston Herald,
19 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
The 29-year-old denied former Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun three times in the first half.—
Elias Burke,
New York Times,
23 Oct. 2025
-
David denied the allegations at the time.—
Lauryn Overhultz,
FOXNews.com,
22 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
The trees had already been felled and piled by the landowner; the log piles were initially slated to be burned to reduce the fire hazard.—
Syris Valentine,
Scientific American,
16 Oct. 2025
-
Grainier‘s an itinerant lumber man who worked the Pacific Northwest at the turn of the 20th century, felling timber and building railroads.—
Baz Bamigboye,
Deadline,
14 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Those delaminations deteriorated between dive 80 and dive 88, its final dive, resulting in a local buckling failure that led to the implosion.—
Michael Dorgan,
FOXNews.com,
16 Oct. 2025
-
But then her condition deteriorated fast.—
Aishwarya S. Iyer,
CNN Money,
16 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
By measuring the amount of carbon dioxide in the breath, the Warsaw researchers determined that metabolic rates decreased by as much as forty per cent; heart rates, blood pressure, and core temperature fell.—
Clayton Dalton,
New Yorker,
18 Oct. 2025
-
While overall passenger volume, domestic and international, at Miami International Airport decreased in the first half of 2025, arrivals from the UK slightly increased.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
18 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
What began as a mother’s attempt to capture a picture-perfect vacation moment aboard Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Dream ended in tragedy, as police say a 5-year-old girl plunged from a deck after being encouraged to climb into an open porthole.—
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten , Adriana James-Rodil,
FOXNews.com,
21 Oct. 2025
-
As the war in Gaza dragged on, and Israel plunged deeper into the Palestinian territory, the settler right appeared poised to obtain its prize.—
Yair Rosenberg,
The Atlantic,
21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
James O’Donoghue, a planetary scientist with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, likened our planet’s tilting phenomenon to a nodding head.—
Aylin Woodward,
WSJ,
21 Dec. 2021
Verb
-
Comey received a slight boost in his case to plead his innocence earlier this week when a judge rejected federal prosecutors’ effort to impose broad restrictions on the evidence Comey can access ahead of trial.—
Emily Hallas,
The Washington Examiner,
18 Oct. 2025
-
The news caused Salesforce shares to surge as management rejected Wall Street’s narrative of sluggish revenue growth that’s been weighing on investor sentiment in 2025.—
Morgan Chittum,
CNBC,
18 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Declined.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/declined. Accessed 24 Oct. 2025.
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