decreases

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of decrease.

   Air pressure decreases steadily as you climb higher up the mountain.

   The bank decreases its lending rate whenever the economy slows.

   Note

   The verb works in two directions. A quantity can shrink on its own, as when pressure decreases with height, or someone can shrink it, as when the bank decreases its rate. An object after the verb signals that second, causative use. The -s form goes with he, she, it or a singular noun, while plural subjects take the bare decrease. For telling it apart from its identical twin, see the noun plural.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of decrease.

   Sharp decreases in temperature overnight damaged the young crops.

   The auditors noted repeated decreases in revenue across three quarters.

   Note

   Counted reductions take this plural: two decreases in price, several decreases over a year. When the noun is used uncountably, as in a period of steady decrease, it has no plural. Knitters count decreases too, meaning each point where the stitch count drops, often by working two stitches together. The same spelling serves the verb's present form, and a following "in" usually marks the noun.

   The pattern calls for four decreases along each sleeve.

   Successive decreases in funding forced the lab to close.

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