decline
verb/dɪˈklaɪn/
/dɪˈklaɪn/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they decline | /dɪˈklaɪn/ /dɪˈklaɪn/ |
| he / she / it declines | /dɪˈklaɪnz/ /dɪˈklaɪnz/ |
| past simple declined | /dɪˈklaɪnd/ /dɪˈklaɪnd/ |
| past participle declined | /dɪˈklaɪnd/ /dɪˈklaɪnd/ |
| -ing form declining | /dɪˈklaɪnɪŋ/ /dɪˈklaɪnɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive] (rather formal) to become smaller, fewer, weaker, etc.
- Support for the party continues to decline.
- decline by something Sales of whole milk declined by 4 per cent.
- decline in something The city declined in importance in the nineteenth century.
- to decline in popularity/value/number
- Jobs in manufacturing have steadily declined.
- to decline sharply/significantly/dramatically
- to decline rapidly/markedly/substantially
- Her health began to decline.
Extra ExamplesTopics Change, cause and effectb2- Profits declined by 6 per cent this year.
- The economy has declined sharply in recent years.
- The market for these products is declining fast.
- The number of full-time staff has declined from 300 to just 50.
- This section of the market has slowly declined in importance.
- Her health was declining rapidly.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- considerably
- dramatically
- drastically
- …
- by
- from
- to
- …
- decline in importance, numbers, size, etc.
- [intransitive, transitive] (formal) to refuse politely to accept or to do something synonym refuse1
- I offered to give them a lift but they declined.
- decline something to decline an offer/invitation
- We politely declined her invitation.
- She declined a second cup of coffee and called for a taxi.
- decline to do something Their spokesman declined to comment on the allegations.
Extra Examples- Patients of course have the right to decline treatment.
- The minister declined to be interviewed.
- I absolutely decline to discuss my dealings with him or anyone.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- politely
- respectfully
- [intransitive, transitive] decline (something) (grammar) if a noun, an adjective or a pronoun declines, it has different forms according to whether it is the subject or the object of a verb, whether it is in the singular or plural, etc. When you decline a noun, etc., you list these forms.Topics Languagec2 compare conjugate
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decline