- a continuous decrease in the number, value, quality, etc. of something
- decline in something There has been a 5 per cent decline in student numbers.
- decline of something the decline of seabird populations
- a sharp/steep/rapid decline
- a steady/gradual decline
- They have experienced decades of economic decline.
- in decline Industry in Britain has been in decline since the 1970s.
- Many of the city's magnificent buildings fell into decline.
Extra ExamplesTopics Change, cause and effectb2, Moneyb2- The cloth trade went into gradual decline.
- a steady decline in manufacturing
- We have seen a sharp decline in educational standards over recent years.
- a steep decline in sales
- the moral decline of the nation
- an industry in terminal decline
- The increased gold price lead to the decline of his jewellery business.
- This area has been on the decline for some years now.
- We must halt this decline in health services.
- These measures have failed to reverse the country's economic decline.
- the decline and fall of a great civilization
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- catastrophic
- considerable
- dramatic
- …
- experience
- fall into
- go into
- …
- occur
- begin
- in decline
- on the decline
- decline in
- …
- the decline and fall of something
Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French decliner, from Latin declinare ‘bend down, turn aside’, from de- ‘down’ + clinare ‘to bend’.Definitions on the go
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decline