decline

Etymology

From Middle English declinen, and ultimately Latin declīnō (“to bend, turn aside, deflect, inflect, decline”, from de (“down”) + clīnō (“I bend, I 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.

noun

1. Downward movement, fall.
2. A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.
3. A deterioration of condition; a weakening or worsening.
   He has experienced a sudden decline in his health.
   Educational standards are on the decline.
   The country's global reputation is in decline.
   In an era when political leaders promise deliverance from decline through America’s purported preeminence in scientific research, the news that science is in deep trouble in the United States has been as unwelcome as a diagnosis of leukemia following the loss of health insurance. 2012-01, Philip E. Mirowski, “Harms to Health from the Pursuit of Profits”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 2012-04-04, page 87
4. A reduction or diminution of activity, prevalence or quantity.
   Population decline is a major concern.
   Town-centre retailers have seen a decline in footfall.
   "It knows it has to plan for managed decline, but it can't even plan for managed decline if it doesn't know how much decline to manage." March 23 2022, Paul Clifton, “Londoners pay the price”, in RAIL, number 953, page 48
5. The act of declining or refusing something.
   The issuing bank only checks the consumer's credit card number for authorization. […] Soft declines are those declines in which the bank requires further verification. 2004, David A. Montague, Fraud Prevention Techniques for Credit Card Fraud

verb

1. (intransitive) To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
   The dollar has declined rapidly since 2001.
2. (intransitive) To become weaker or worse.
   My health declined in winter.
3. (transitive) To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
   in melancholy site, with head declined
4. (transitive) To cause to decrease or diminish.
5. To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.
   a line that declines from straightness
   conduct that declines from sound morals
6. (transitive) To choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain.
   Could I decline this dreadful hour? 1626, Philip Massinger, The Roman Actor
   On reflection I think I will decline your generous offer.
7. (transitive, grammar, usually of substantives, adjectives and pronouns) To inflect for case, number, gender, and the like.
8. (transitive, grammar) To recite all the different declined forms of (a word).
   after the first declining of a noun and a verb 1570, Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster, 1st edition
9. (by extension) To run through from first to last; to recite in order as though declining a noun.
10. (American football, Canadian football) 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.
    The team chose to decline the fifteen-yard penalty because their receiver had caught the ball for a thirty-yard gain.