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Definition of Diminish
1. Verb. Decrease in size, extent, or range. "His voice fell to a whisper"
Specialized synonyms: Break, Shrink, Shrivel, Taper, Drop Off, Fly, Vanish, Vaporize, Break, Ease Off, Ease Up, Flag, Slacken Off, Weaken, Boil Down, Concentrate, Decoct, Reduce, Contract, Shrink, Shrink, Shrivel, Shrivel Up, Wither, Abate, Die Away, Let Up, Slack, Slack Off, Deflate, Dwindle, Dwindle Away, Dwindle Down, Remit, De-escalate, Depreciate, Devaluate, Devalue, Undervalue, Shorten, Thin Out, Decline, Go Down, Wane, Wane, Wane, Decelerate, Retard, Slow, Slow Down, Slow Up, Decrescendo
Generic synonyms: Change Magnitude
Derivative terms: Decrease, Decrease, Decrease, Decrease, Diminution, Fall
Antonyms: Increase
2. Verb. Lessen the authority, dignity, or reputation of. "Don't belittle your colleagues"
Definition of Diminish
1. v. t. To make smaller in any manner; to reduce in bulk or amount; to lessen; -- opposed to augment or increase.
2. v. i. To become or appear less or smaller; to lessen; as, the apparent size of an object diminishes as we recede from it.
Definition of Diminish
1. Verb. (transitive) To make smaller. ¹
2. Verb. (intransitive) To become smaller. ¹
3. Verb. (intransitive) To taper. ¹
4. Verb. (intransitive) To disappear gradually. ¹
5. Verb. (transitive music) To reduce a perfect or minor interval by a semitone. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Diminish
1. to lessen [v -ED, -ING, -ES] - See also: lessen
Medical Definition of Diminish
1. 1. To make smaller in any manner; to reduce in bulk or amount; to lessen; opposed to augment or increase. "Not diminish, but rather increase, the debt." (Barrow) 2. To lessen the authority or dignity of; to put down; to degrade; to abase; to weaken. "This doth nothing diminish their opinion." (Robynson (More's Utopia)) "I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations." (Ezek. Xxix. 15) "O thou . . . at whose sight all the stars Hide their diminished heads." (Milton) 3. To make smaller by a half step; to make (an interval) less than minor; as, a diminished seventh. 4. To take away; to subtract. "Neither shall ye diminish aught from it." (Deut. Iv. 2) Diminished column, one whose upper diameter is less than the lower. Diminished, or Diminishing, scale, a scale of gradation used in finding the different points for drawing the spiral curve of the volute. Diminishing rule, a stile which is narrower in one part than in another, as in many glazed doors. Synonym: To decrease, lessen, abate, reduce, contract, curtail, impair, degrade. See Decrease. Origin: Pref. Di- (= L. Dis-) + minish: cf. L. Diminuere, F. Diminuer, OE. Diminuen. See Dis-, and Minish. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Diminish
Literary usage of Diminish
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The Call of the Hen; Or, The Science of the Selection and Breeding of Poultry by National Council of Teachers of English Committee on Recreational Reading, Walter Hogan, Sherman Dickinson, Harry Reynolds Lewis, Raymond William Gregory, Louis Renou, B. K. Hindse, A. V. Leontovich, Arthur John Arberry (1913)
"If they were of the beef type their vitality and ability to produce flesh
economically would diminish with each generation. If they were a fancy type the ..."
2. Report by Oklahoma Adjutant-general's office (1859)
"As the little pin-holes which they perforate scarcely diminish the strength of
the timber in the least, they are deemed of no consequence. ..."
3. The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the by Charles George Herbermann, Edward Aloysius Pace, Condé Bénoist Pallen, Thomas Joseph Shahan, John Joseph Wynne (1913)
"... of six to ten dwellings each, to diminish the danger of fire. The "college"
was separated from the plaza by a wall and a small courtyard, and by another ..."
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