decline

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To politely refuse something.

   I declined their invitation to the party.

2. 2
   verb

   To become smaller, weaker, or worse.

   Sales have declined steadily since last year.

3. 3
   noun

   A reduction or worsening in amount, quality, or condition.

   There has been a sharp decline in the number of visitors.

From Middle English declinen, and ultimately Latin declīnō (“to bend, turn aside, deflect, inflect, decline”, from dē- (“down”) + clīnō (“to bend, to incline”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (English lean). The senses arrived from two separate pathways in Middle English: * The grammatical sense came from Old English declīnian, which was borrowed directly from the Latin etymon. * All senses except the grammatical sense were derived from those of Old French decliner. Old French itself borrowed the verb from Latin.

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