ratcheting (down)

verb

variants also racheting (down)
present participle of ratchet (down)
as in decreasing
to grow less in scope or intensity especially gradually news stories about the kidnapping will ratchet down as the weeks go by

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for ratcheting (down)
  1. decreasing
  2. diminishing
  3. ebbing
  4. shrinking
  5. tapering off
  6. falling away
  7. declining
  8. letting up
Verb
  • The sterile male flies mated with fertile female flies, but the interactions didn’t produce offspring, decreasing the overall fly population.
    — Nollyanne Delacruz, Mercury News, 24 July 2026
  • The result is increasing structural lifespan and decreasing potentially massive costs during work disruption, repair, and replacement.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 24 July 2026
Definition of decreasing
Verb
  • Plants and animals keenly sense the diminishing light, which acts as a master biological clock that triggers changes such as migration, shifting hormone levels and winter coat growth.
    — Charles Seabrook, AJC.com, 1 Aug. 2026
  • Without diminishing that aspect of music, Musical Bodies rightly situates as much meaning in the objects themselves.
    — Jonathon Keats, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
Definition of diminishing
Verb
  • The autocracies are surging, and democracies ebbing.
    — Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Atlantic, 28 June 2026
  • That number has fluctuated from a high of 115,000 in May to a low of about 16,000 on the day before this column was published, ebbing and flowing as tickets were purchased, new batches were released and FIFA (maybe) pulled back others.
    — Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico.com, 10 June 2026
Definition of ebbing
Verb
  • By the logic of pure procurement, AI bills should be shrinking.
    — Roman Shemet, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026
  • Mediation may yet come back into focus if oil markets panic and the price of crude returns above $100 on the back of shrinking reserves worldwide.
    — Tim Lister, CNN Money, 20 July 2026
Definition of shrinking
Verb
  • The rain will be tapering off and skies will be clearing in the afternoon.
    — Dan Sheldon, New York Times, 17 July 2026
  • The large multi-state outbreak in 2013 went from June to August before tapering off.
    — Joseph Hernandez, Bon Appetit Magazine, 14 July 2026
Definition of tapering off
Verb
  • When algorithms see these frictions falling away, the need for a driver premium plummets, deflating the surge price.
    — Christopher S. Tang, The Conversation, 8 July 2026
  • But the memorandum drafted between Kyiv and Washington on an early-stage drone deal appears to suggest those obstacles may be falling away.
    — Aidan Stretch, CBS News, 12 May 2026
Definition of falling away
Verb
  • Wine consumption as a whole is declining, according to the French Agriculture Ministry, with the government funding permanent vineyard removal in some cases.
    — Martina Di Licosa, CBS News, 31 July 2026
  • Some factors outside of districts’ control, such as the declining birth rate and competition with the private sector, could be contributing to this trend, according to local and state education leaders.
    — Lina Ruiz, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 30 July 2026
Definition of declining
Verb
  • On every metric—sales, profit, assets and market value—these bellwether companies, 787 from Asia, collectively scaled to record levels, most likely reaping gains from not letting up.
    — Naazneen Karmali, Forbes.com, 10 July 2026
  • Rain pummeled the ground outside the tunnel, but the storm was short-lived, gradually letting up and then stopping altogether.
    — Karissa Waddick, USA Today, 4 July 2026
Definition of letting up
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

ratcheted (up)
ratcheting (down)
ratcheting (up)
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Cite this Entry

“Ratcheting (down).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ratcheting%20%28down%29. Accessed 3 Aug. 2026.

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