decrease
Americanverb (used without object)
-
decreases,
present (3rd person singular)
-
decreased,
past participle, past
-
decreasing
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
decreases,
present (3rd person singular)
-
decreased,
past participle, past
-
decreasing
present participle
noun
-
decreases
plural
-
the act or process of decreasing; condition of being decreased; gradual reduction.
a decrease in sales;
a decrease in intensity.
- Synonyms:
- subsidence, decline, abatement
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the amount by which a thing is lessened.
The decrease in sales was almost 20 percent.
verb
noun
-
the act or process of diminishing; reduction
-
the amount by which something has been diminished
Usage
What does decrease mean? To decrease is to lessen or become reduced in number, amount, size, or in some other way, as in Our profits will continue to decrease unless we cut costs. As a verb, decrease is also used in an active way in which someone or something is doing the decreasing, as in I’m going to decrease my hours at work or These sunglasses decrease glare. The word reduce is perhaps even more commonly used to mean the same thing. Decrease can also be used as a noun referring to a reduction, as in We are experiencing a decrease in applicants. It can also refer to the amount by which something has decreased, as in The decrease was $5,000 per year. The words decreased and decreasing can both be used as adjectives, as in a decreased appetite or decreasing sales. The opposite of decrease as both a verb and a noun is increase. Example: Sally decided to decrease her workload, which led to a decrease in stress.
Synonym Usage
Decrease, diminish, dwindle, shrink imply becoming smaller or less in amount. Decrease commonly implies a sustained reduction in stages, especially of bulk, size, volume, or quantity, often from some imperceptible cause or inherent process: The swelling decreased daily. Diminish usually implies the action of some external cause that keeps taking away: Disease caused the number of troops to diminish steadily. Dwindle implies an undesirable reduction by degrees, resulting in attenuation: His followers dwindled to a mere handful. Shrink especially implies contraction through an inherent property under specific conditions: Many fabrics shrink in hot water.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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decreasesimple
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decreasessimple
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have decreasedperfect
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has decreasedperfect
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am decreasingprogressive
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are decreasingprogressive
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is decreasingprogressive
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have been decreasingperfect progressive
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has been decreasingperfect progressive
Past
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decreasedsimple
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had decreasedperfect
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was decreasingprogressive
-
were decreasingprogressive
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had been decreasingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of decrease
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English verb decresen, from Old French decreiss-, long stem of decreistre, from Latin dēcrēscere “to diminish,” literally “to grow down,” equivalent to dē- de- + crēscere “to grow”); noun derivative of the verb; see crescent
Explanation
Decrease means to lower or go down. If you are driving above the speed limit, you should decrease your speed or risk getting a ticket. Students always want teachers to decrease the amount of homework. The opposite of decrease is increase, which means to raise. In science, you often are measuring increases and decreases. Is there a decrease in the time it takes water to boil when you begin with water as a liquid rather than water in its ice-cube form?
Vocabulary lists containing decrease
List 2
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Ratios and Proportional Relationships
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Ratios and Proportional Relationships
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In Scotland there has been a decrease of 23% in the same time period.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
Lowering amyloid beta in the bloodstream does not necessarily mean that amyloid plaques in the brain will decrease or that Alzheimer's disease can be prevented.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2026
Across the group, 497,799 vehicles were sold in the quarter, a decrease of 6%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
AFP was not able to immediately verify whether there had been a decrease in fighting.
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
But, anyway, the clothes kept us from getting sunburned, and they did help to decrease the rate at which we were perspiring.
From "Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story" by Michael Collins
Multiple sources have told BBC Sport that Newcastle - with a view to protecting themselves against Howe walking straight into another club - reached an agreement over a compensation structure that decreases over time.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
Central bank officials are penciling in one more rate increase this year and no increases for 2027 — but no decreases, either.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
Among the world's top-six emitters, preliminary data for 2025 showed emissions increases in the US, Indonesia and China and decreases in India, Russia and the European Union.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
If the laser begins to drift away from that frequency, the amount of light absorbed by the nuclei decreases.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026
“The freezing point decreases and the boiling point increases.”
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
In the same period, errors by MI6 decreased from 10 to three.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
White victims, who were far fewer in number, also decreased slightly from 28 to 22, while victims whose race was listed as Asian, Middle Eastern or “other” have decreased marginally, from 7 to 6.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
“There could be decreased output and longer outages depending on the level of damages.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
The abstention rate decreased from the first round, falling from 21 percent to 19 percent in the runoff.
From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2026
There is some evidence that the size of the average Sapiens brain has actually decreased since the age of foraging.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
These include the northern quoll, whose numbers have been decreasing, the goanna lizard and the ghost bat.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
"I'm optimistic. Their cost of capital is actually decreasing."
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
The state ballot measures aim to fix the housing crisis in various ways, from amending regulations so home-building is easier, to decreasing the ongoing cost of homeownership by cutting taxes.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
“It just feels like here’s a few good uses, here are 100 other uses that are maybe unnecessary and are maybe decreasing quality of life.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
The practice actually saved the school money by decreasing the garbage-disposal expenses.
From "The Landry News" by Andrew Clements
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
