decrease

Formsdecreases, decreasing, decreased

Pluraldecreases

1. 1
   verbintransitive

   Of a quantity, to grow smaller in size, number, or degree.

   Temperatures decrease steadily as you climb higher up the mountain.

   Sales decreased sharply after the holiday season ended.

   Similarfall, drop, decline, diminish, dwindle

   Oppositeincrease, rise, grow

   Note

   The intransitive use makes the quantity itself the subject. Quality decreases, temperatures decrease, and no cause needs to be named. Middle English had both decresen and discresen, from Anglo-Norman descreistre (modern French décroître). The de- spelling, closer to Latin decrescere, is the one that survived. When someone does the shrinking, English switches to the causative use: the firm decreased its costs.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To make a quantity smaller in size, number, or degree.

   Engineers redesigned the engine to decrease fuel consumption.

   The company decreased its workforce by ten percent last year.

   Similarreduce, lower, cut, lessen, diminish

   Oppositeincrease, raise, boost

3. 3
   nouncountable

   The amount by which a quantity grows smaller, or the act of its growing smaller.

   The report showed a sharp decrease in regional rainfall over the decade.

   A decrease in interest rates often encourages people to borrow money.

   Similarreduction, drop, fall, decline, cut

   Oppositeincrease, rise, growth

   Note

   The noun names the shrinkage, and it usually takes in before whatever shrinks: a decrease in sales, a decrease in rainfall. With a possessive it attaches to the thing itself, as in Baishui's decrease at about 27 meters per year. It is countable for a single drop (a slight decrease) and uncountable for the general process.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A reduction in the number of stitches in knitting, made by suspending one stitch from another or by knitting two stitches together.

   She worked a decrease at the start of each round to narrow the hat's crown.

   The instructions place a decrease on either side of the central panel.

   Oppositeincrease

   Note

   A knitter's count noun for one shaping move. Each decrease takes a stitch out of play, either by passing one loop over another or by knitting two or more loops together as a single new stitch. Placed at intervals or in pairs, decreases narrow the fabric and control its width, which is how a hat's crown closes. In patterns, a knitter usually works a decrease.

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