decline
part of speech
verb (decline, declines, declined, declining); noun (a decline, declines)
meaning for a pupil
1) To decline is to say no politely to an offer or invitation. tree →
2) To decline is to become smaller, fewer or worse. tree →
3) A decline is a fall in amount, number or quality. tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths and graphs, a decline is a line going down: the numbers are getting smaller. In science and geography, «the population of bees is declining». In manners lessons, you can decline politely: «No, thank you». Phrases: «decline an invitation», «in decline», «a sharp decline», «decline in numbers».
examples
- She politely declined the offer of a second cake. tree →
- The number of hedgehogs has declined. tree →
- The graph shows a decline in sales after March. tree →
- Grandpa's health declined over the winter. tree →
- He declined to answer the question. tree →
- The town fell into decline when the factory shut. tree →
- Thank you, but I must decline. tree →
- The Soldier drank, but only moderately, and declined to drink any more. tree →
note
Opposites: «accept» (for invitations), «rise» / «increase» (for amounts). In maths problems «declined by 20» means it went down by 20 (subtract); «declined to 20» means the new amount is 20. A declining line on a graph slopes down from left to right.
In the corpora
- An old idea that invaders destroyed the Indus cities suddenly is now not believed; the decline was slow.
- If a prey animal disappears, the predators that ate it must find other food, move away or decline.
- Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy path;
- Get wisdom, get understanding; forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth;
- Let not thy heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «decline» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.