# decline

Pronunciation: say "di-KLYN" /dɪˈklaɪn/

## Verb

1. To choose not to accept or do something; to refuse or hold back from it.
   - Simple: To politely say no to something offered or suggested.
   - _The senator declined to comment on the ongoing investigation._
   - _We respectfully decline any offers of financial assistance._
2. To gradually become weaker, worse, or less effective.
   - Simple: To slowly get weaker, worse, or less healthy.
   - _The patient's condition continued to decline through the night._
   - _Local industries declined as factories moved overseas._
6. To move downward; to fall or drop to a lower position.
   - Simple: To move down to a lower place or level.
   - _Roads decline sharply on the far side of the ridge._
   - _The valley floor declined toward a hidden stream._
9. To bend something downward or bring it down, causing it to bend, sink, or fall.
   - Simple: To bend something down, or to make it go down or fall.
   - _The knight declined his lance toward the ground._
   - _Mourners decline their heads at the graveside._
10. To inflect a noun, pronoun, or adjective for case, number, and gender.
   - Simple: To change the form of a word to fit how it is used in a sentence.
   - _Beginners must decline each noun across all six cases._
   - _He declined the adjective to agree with its noun._
12. In football, to reject a penalty called against the opposing team, usually because accepting it would help less than the previous play. *(Canadian)*
   - Simple: In football, to turn down a penalty against the other team because keeping the play is better.
   - _The captain decided to decline the holding penalty after the long gain._
   - _With a first down already earned, they declined the offside call._
13. To recite all the inflected forms of a word in order; to give its full declension.
   - Simple: To say all the changed forms of a word out loud, in order.
   - _Each pupil had to decline the noun before the class._
   - _He declined the Greek word flawlessly from memory._
14. To run through something from first to last, reciting it in order.
   - Simple: To go through a list of things in order, one after another.
   - _The old sailor would decline every port he had visited, in sequence._
   - _She declined the family lineage back ten generations._
15. To turn or bend aside; to deviate or withdraw from a course.
   - Simple: To turn away or move to the side from a path or course.
   - _He declined from his usual route to avoid the crowds._
   - _True friends never decline from their promises._

## Noun

3. A worsening or weakening of someone's or something's condition.
   - Simple: A slow change to a weaker, worse, or less healthy state.
   - _The empire's moral decline was chronicled by later historians._
   - _Veterinarians traced the animal's decline to a hidden infection._
4. A reduction in the amount, frequency, or prevalence of something.
   - Simple: A drop in how much, how often, or how common something is.
   - _Economists noted a steady decline in consumer spending._
   - _The decline in measles cases followed widespread vaccination._
5. The act of refusing or turning down something offered.
   - Simple: The act of saying no to something offered.
   - _The committee accepted his decline of the nomination without protest._
   - _A quick decline of the merger offer signaled their confidence._
7. A movement downward to a lower point or level; a fall.
   - Simple: A movement downward to a lower place.
   - _The kite's sudden decline alarmed the children._
   - _Pilots monitor the aircraft's decline during the final approach._
8. A downward slope, such as that of a hill or road.
   - Simple: A downward slope, like the side of a hill or a road going down.
   - _The cyclists picked up speed on the long decline._
   - _A gentle decline led from the house down to the lake._

## Verb

11. To make something decrease or grow smaller. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To make something become smaller or less.

## Origin

From Middle English declinen, ultimately from Latin declīnō ("to bend, turn aside, inflect, decline"), formed from de ("down") plus clīnō ("to bend, to incline"), from a Proto-Indo-European root also giving English lean. In Middle English the senses arrived by two routes: the grammatical sense came from Old English declīnian, borrowed directly from Latin, while all the other senses came through Old French decliner, which had itself borrowed the verb from Latin.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/decline (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).