decrease.
Of a quantity, to become smaller.
Meaning & usage
Of a quantity, to become smaller.
The quality of our products has decreased since the main designer left.
To make (a quantity) smaller.
Let's decrease the volume a little so we can hear each other talking.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English decresen, alteration of discresen, from Anglo-Norman, Old French descreistre (French: décroître), from Latin decrescere.
An amount by which a quantity decreases or is decreased.
After six years of constant growth, the company reported a slight decrease in sales last year.
One research team has recorded Baishui’s decrease at about 27 meters per year over the last 10 years.
A reduction in the number of stitches, usually accomplished by suspending the stitch to be decreased from another existing stitch or by knitting it together with another stitch. See Decrease (knitting).
Where this word comes from
From Middle English decresen, alteration of discresen, from Anglo-Norman, Old French descreistre (French: décroître), from Latin decrescere.
Try it on your idea.
decrease has 8 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.