decrease

«decrease» in Mova's school dictionary: to become smaller or fewer in size, number or amount — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (decrease, decreases, decreased, decreasing); noun (a decrease, decreases)

meaning for a pupil

1) To decrease is to become smaller or fewer in size, number or amount. tree →

2) To decrease something is to make it smaller or less. tree →

3) A decrease is a fall in amount or number. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths, decrease means take away or reduce: «decrease 50 by 10» gives 40, and a percentage decrease of 10% of 50 is 5. In science, temperature, speed or population can decrease; on a graph a decrease is a line going down. Phrases: decrease by, decrease in, a sharp decrease, increase and decrease.

examples

• Decrease 20 by 5 and you get 15. tree →
• The temperature decreased at night. tree →
• The number of bees has decreased. tree →
• There was a decrease in the price of apples. tree →
• Slow down to decrease your speed. tree →
• The graph shows a steady decrease. tree →
• Sales decreased by half. tree →
• As the warmth increased, the Snow Man decreased. tree →

note

Stress: verb usually de-CREASE, noun DE-crease. Opposite: increase. Trap in maths: «decrease by 3» means subtract 3, but «decrease to 3» means the new number is 3. A percentage decrease is worked out from the starting amount.

In the corpora

• And the waters returned from off the earth continually; and after the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters decreased.
• He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly, and suffereth not their cattle to decrease.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «decrease» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.