DIMINISH


Meaning of DIMINISH in English

di ‧ min ‧ ish AC /dəˈmɪnɪʃ, dɪˈmɪnɪʃ/ BrE AmE verb

[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Origin: diminue (14-16 centuries) , from Old French diminuer , from Latin minuere 'to make less' ]

1 . [intransitive and transitive] to become or make something become smaller or less SYN reduce :

The party’s share of the electorate has diminished steadily.

These drugs diminish blood flow to the brain.

2 . [transitive] to deliberately make someone or something appear less important or valuable than they really are:

Don’t let him diminish your achievements.

But that’s not to diminish the importance of his discoveries.

3 . diminishing returns when the profits or advantages you are getting from something stop increasing in relation to the effort you are making

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THESAURUS

▪ decrease to become less in number or amount:

The average rainfall has decreased by around 30 percent.

▪ go down to decrease. Go down is less formal than decrease and is the usual word to use in conversation:

Unemployment has gone down in the past few months.

▪ decline formal to decrease – used with numbers or amounts, or about the level or standard of something:

The standard of living has declined.

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Support for the government is steadily declining.

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Salaries have declined by around 4.5%.

▪ diminish to become smaller or less important:

Union membership diminished from 30,000 at its height to just 2,000 today.

▪ fall/drop to decrease, especially by a large amount. Fall and drop are less formal than decrease :

The number of tigers in the wild has fallen to just over 10,000.

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At night, the temperature drops to minus 20 degrees.

▪ plunge /plʌndʒ/ /plummet /ˈplʌmət, ˈplʌmɪt/ to suddenly decrease very quickly and by a very large amount:

Share prices have plummeted 29% in the last four months.

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Climate change could cause global temperatures to plummet.

▪ slide if a price or value slides, it gradually decreases in a way that causes problems – used especially in news reports:

The dollar fell in late trading in New York yesterday and slid further this morning.

▪ dwindle /ˈdwɪndl/ to gradually decrease until there is very little left of something, especially numbers or amounts, popularity, or importance:

Support for the theory is dwindling.

▪ taper off /ˈteɪpə $ -ər/ if a number or the amount of an activity that is happening tapers off, it gradually decreases, especially so that it stops completely:

Political violence tapered off after the elections.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.