decline
/dɪˈklaɪn/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.40 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "The aircraft went into a sudden decline before the pilot regained control."
- "After taking a right from that turn a decline will come into view."
- "He has experienced a sudden decline in his health."
- "Educational standards are on the decline."
- "The country's global reputation is in decline."
- "In an era when political leaders promise deliverance from decline through America’s purported preeminence in scientific research, the news that science is in deep trouble in the United States has been as unwelcome as a diagnosis of leukemia following the loss of health insurance."
Etymology
From Middle English declinen, and ultimately Latin declīnō (“to bend, turn aside, deflect, inflect, decline”, from dē- (“down”) + clīnō (“to bend, to incline”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (English lean). The senses arrived from two separate pathways in Middle English: * The grammatical sense came from Old English declīnian, which was borrowed directly from the Latin etymon. * All senses except the grammatical sense were derived from those of Old French decliner. Old French itself borrowed the verb from Latin.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
declines (plural)
declines (present, singular)
declining (participle, present)
declined (participle, past)
declined (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
declined (first person, past)
declinest (archaic, present)
declined (past, second person)
declinedst (archaic, past)
declineth (archaic, present)