Definitions for decline

• Definition
• Anagrams (138)

decline de·cline

Spelling: [dih-klahyn]

IPA: /dɪˈklaɪn/

Decline is a 7 letter English word. It's valid Scrabble word worth 10 points. It's valid Words with friends word worth 13 points.

You can make 138 anagrams from letters in decline (cdeeiln).

Definitions for decline

noun

1. a downward slope; declivity.
2. a downward movement, as of prices or population; diminution:
3. a failing or gradual loss, as in strength, character, power, or value; deterioration:
4. a gradual deterioration of the physical powers, as in later life or in disease:
5. progress downward or toward the close, as of the sun or the day.
6. the later years or last part:

verb (used with object)

1. to withhold or deny consent to do, enter into or upon, etc.; refuse:
2. to express inability or reluctance to accept; refuse with courtesy:
3. to cause to slope or incline downward.
4. Grammar. to inflect (a noun, pronoun, or adjective), as Latin puella, declined puella, puellae, puellae, puellam, puella in the five cases of the singular. to recite or display all or some subset of the inflected forms of a noun, pronoun, or adjective in a fixed order.

verb (used without object)

1. to express courteous refusal; refuse:
2. to bend or slant down; slope downward; descend:
3. (of pathways, routes, objects, etc.) to follow a downward course or path:
4. to draw toward the close, as the day.
5. to fail in strength, vigor, character, value, etc.; deteriorate.
6. to fail or dwindle; sink or fade away:
7. to descend, as to an unworthy level; stoop.
8. Grammar. to be characterized by declension.

Origin of decline

1275-1325; (v.) Middle English declinen Old French: to inflect, turn aside, sink Latin dēclīnāre to slope, incline, bend; compare Greek klī́nein to lean¹;

Examples for decline

We protect iron-workers, and decline to protect our own daughters.

America, Stephens writes, is not necessarily in “decline” but rather “retreat.”

Police Superintendent Michael Harrison said the decline was a result of an effort to decrease gang violence.

They only thought a lawyer could help them--but I'm far too busy--of course I decline.

Thanks to CompStat and strategies added by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, crime continued to decline.

If we permit our economy to drift and decline, the vulnerable will suffer most.

Percival watched the decline with a conviction that he was dreaming.

This means a decline in habitat quality for grazers like bison and elk, whose winter-killed carcasses grizzlies feed upon.

And so for the present we take leave of the Athenians, in the hour of their decline.

The loss of this “expectation” game began his decline and ultimate withdrawal from the race.