- To bend, or lean downward; to take a downward
direction; to bend over or hang down, as from weakness, weariness,
despondency, etc.; to condescend. - To tend or draw towards a close, decay, or extinction;
to tend to a less perfect state; to become diminished or impaired; to
fail; to sink; to diminish; to lessen; as, the day declines; virtue
declines; religion declines; business declines. - To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to
withdraw; as, a line that declines from straightness; conduct that
declines from sound morals. - To turn away; to shun; to refuse; -- the opposite of
accept or consent; as, he declined, upon principle. - A falling off; a tendency to a worse state; diminution
or decay; deterioration; also, the period when a thing is tending
toward extinction or a less perfect state; as, the decline of life; the
decline of strength; the decline of virtue and religion. - That period of a disorder or paroxysm when the symptoms
begin to abate in violence; as, the decline of a fever. - A gradual sinking and wasting away of the physical
faculties; any wasting disease, esp. pulmonary consumption; as, to die
of a decline.
2 . Decline
[ v. t.]
- To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause
to bend, or fall. - To cause to decrease or diminish. - To put or turn aside; to turn off or away from; to
refuse to undertake or comply with; reject; to shun; to avoid; as, to
decline an offer; to decline a contest; he declined any participation
with them. - To inflect, or rehearse in order the changes of
grammatical form of; as, to decline a noun or an adjective. - To run through from first to last; to repeat like a
schoolboy declining a noun.
Meaning of 'decline' (Princeton's WordNet)
1 . decline
[ v]
Meaning (1): - grow worse
Example in sentence:
Conditions in the slum worsened;
Conditions in the slums degenerated;
Her condition deteriorated;
The discussion devolved into a shouting match
Meaning (2): - refuse to accept
Example in sentence:
dishonor checks and drafts;
He refused my offer of hospitality
Meaning (3): - show unwillingness towards
Example in sentence:
he declined to join the group on a hike
Meaning (4): - inflect for number, gender, case, etc.
Example in sentence:
in many languages, speakers decline nouns, pronouns, and adjectives
Advance-Decline Advance-Decline, or measurement of the number of issues trading above their previous closing prices less the number trading below their previous closing prices over a particular period.
Decline Stage As retirement age approaches, there is often a declaration period in the decline stage. Here many people face the prospect of having to accept reduced levels of power...