noun
definition
Downward movement, fall.
definition
A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.
definition
A weakening.
definition
A reduction or diminution of activity.
definition
The act of declining or refusing something.
verb
definition
To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
example
The dollar has declined rapidly since 2001.
definition
To become weaker or worse.
example
My health declined in winter.
definition
To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
definition
To cause to decrease or diminish.
definition
To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.
example
a line that declines from straightness
definition
To refuse, forbear.
example
On reflection I think I will decline your generous offer.
definition
(grammar, usually of substantives, adjectives and pronouns) To inflect for case, number and sometimes gender.
definition
(by extension) To run through from first to last; to repeat like a schoolboy declining a noun.
definition
To reject a penalty against the opposing team, usually because the result of accepting it would benefit the non-penalized team less than the preceding play.
example
The team chose to decline the fifteen-yard penalty because their receiver had caught the ball for a thirty-yard gain.
Examples of decline in a Sentence
She was inclined to decline his offer.
How could I decline without sounding like a total turd?
I tried to decline but he insisted I eat so I complied.
In the third place it was marked by a decline of good government in Rome.
Friends and relations advised Nicholas to decline the inheritance.
The officer did not decline, but took the note quietly and thanked her.
The decline of the Ottoman power, which began towards the end of the 17th century, was marked by increasing anarchy and lawlessness in the outlying portions of the empire.
A second period of decline followed the working out of this mine and lasted until 1900, when the discovery of a new mineral belt in southern Nevada brought renewed prosperity.
But the decline of nationalism is a force for peace.
Iron.The iron-mines of France are more numerous than its coalmines, but they do not yield a sufficient quantity of ore for the needs of the metallurgical industries of the country; as will be seen in the table below the production of iron in France gradually increased during the 19th century; on the other hand, a decline in prices operated against a correspondingly marked increase in its annual value.
Thus the later part of the Decline and Fall, while the narrative of certain episodes will always be read with profit, does not convey a true idea of the history of the empire or of its significance in the history of Europe.
For an embarrassing moment she thought he would decline the offer, but slowly a smile touched the corners of his mouth.
In judging the Decline and Fall it should carefully be observed that it falls into two parts which are heterogeneous in the method of treatment.
After the decline of the power of Rome, the dominant force in Asiatic commerce and navigation was Persia, and from that time onward, until the arrival of the Portuguese upon the scene early in the 16th century the spice trade, whose chief emporia were in or near the Malay Peninsula, was in Persian or Arab hands.
A general decline in culture is manifest in the Balinese.
That is, agree in principle but decline any personal accountability.
Its importance lasted until the decline of the fleet in the 4th century A.D.
After the decline of the medieval tradein cloth, lace and buttons were the only articles manufactured here until the introduction of silk-weaving in 1740.
The latter half of the 8th century, which witnessed a rapid succession of reigns in the northern kingdom accompanied by dismemberment of its territory and final overthrow, witnessed also the humiliating vassalage and religious decline of the kingdom of Judah.
The book of Deuteronomy, in conjunction with the reformation of Josiah's reign (which synchronizes with the rapid decline of Assyria and the reviving prestige of Yahweh), appeared to mark the triumph of the great prophetic movement.
He was still contemplating " at an awful distance " The Decline and Fall, and meantime revolved some other subjects, that seemed more immediately practicable.
Its monarchy traced its origin to Hebron in the south, and its growth is contemporary with a decline in Israel (§ 7).
West of Ararat high hills extend along the Black Sea, between which and the Taurus range lies the plateau of Asia Minor, reaching to the Aegean Sea; the mountains along the Black Sea, on which are the Olympus and Ida of the ancients, rise to 6000 or 7000 ft.; the Taurus is more lofty, reaching 8000 and 10,000 ft.; both ranges decline in altitude as they approach the Mediterranean.
Weigh that against the certainty that nearly a billion people are hungry right now and I don't know why we would decline to acquire this knowledge.
The approaching riders having descended a decline were no longer visible, but they reappeared a few minutes later.
Haury, 1905, 1907); see Gibbon, Decline and Fall (ed.
The decline both in imports and in exports of articles of food, which is the most noteworthy fact exhibited in the preceding table, was due to the almost prohibitive tax in the Customs Law of 1892, upon agricultural products.
The increase in the tonnage of sailing vessels, which in other countries tends to decline, was due to the bounties voted by parliament to its merchant sailing fleet with the view of increasing the number of skilled seamen.
For a long period the city was noted for its commerce with the West Indies, which began to decline about 1876, but the coast trade and commerce with Great Britain are still considerable, especially in the winter, when Portland is the outlet of much of the trade from the Great Lakes that in the other seasons passes through Montreal.
With the decline of totemism arose the need for human sacrifice - the only means of re-establishing the broken tie of kinship when the animal species was no longer akin to man.
The period of decline referred to above (Late Minoan III.), which begins about the beginning of the 14th century before our era, must, from the abundance of its remains, have been of considerable duration.
The rise of the mineral saltworks of Cheshire led to its decline in the 18th century, and later the renewed importance of Southampton completed its decay.
The Mayas have left no r cord of their institutions or of the causes of their decline, beyond what may be deduced from their ruined structures.
Minas Geraes is a mining state, though the mining industry has lost much of its importance through the decline in the output of gold and diamonds.
A great decline in the output occurred during the last half of the 19th century; but a new field was discovered in 1908 at Abbadia dos Dourados, in the western part of the state.
He had no artistic appreciation of the subject he discussed, and he mistook cause for effect in asserting that the decline in public morality was due to the flagrant indecency of the stage.
During the twenty years preceding the census of 1901 there was a fall in the death rate of 3.4 per thousand, of which, however, 1 per thousand is attributable to the decline in the birth rate, the balance being attributable to improved sanitary conditions.
The Belgian state telegraphs were started in 1850 and were at first very profitable, but for the years 1866-9 they yielded an average profit of only 2.8 per cent., and subsequently failed to earn operating expenses, the reasons for the steady decline of the profits being the opening of relatively unprofitable lines and offices, increases in wages, and a diminution in growth of the foreign and transit messages which had constituted the most profitable part of the whole business.
This decline of vigour was felt, with the customary effects of discord and bad government, in Lower Italy.
In the 16th century Aix began to decline in importance and prosperity.
The Mongol invasion, in the latter part of that century, wrought their ruin, however, and from that time to the present there has been a steady decline in the commercial importance of the Euphrates route, and consequently also of the towns along its course, until at the present time it is only an avenue of ruins.
Hubert and Mauss, while admitting that in all sacrifices is found some idea of purchase or substitution, decline to admit that all have issued from one primitive form.
The first conception of the Decline and Fall arose as he lingered one evening amidst the vestiges of ancient glory.
This third Late Minoan period - the beginning of which may be fixed about 1400 - is an age of stagnation and decline, but the point of departure continued to be the models supplied by the age that had preceded it.
These ancient states began to decline in the 7th century B.e., and on their ruins rose the Persian empire, which with various political metamorphoses continued to be an important power till the 7th century A.D., after which all western Asia was overwhelmed by the Moslem wave, and old landmarks and kingdoms were obliterated.
She had to decline the last trip because it coincided with her monthly cycle - and this trip was cutting the time close.
After Cynthia came out and administered a cold face cloth, Edith seemed somewhat better, enough to decline medical attention, though she remained disoriented even after reaching Ryland's small quarters.
He was succeeded in 705 by his son Osred, and under him and his successors Northumbria began rapidly to decline through the vices of its kings and the extravagance of their donations.
The history of their decline differs from that of the Murabtis, whom they had displaced.
To the decline in prices of home-grown cereals the decrease in area is largely attributable.