Meaning & use
decrease
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Meanings
verbintransitive
To become smaller in size, amount, or degree.
Grammar: No object: The number of students decreased.
Patterns
- decrease in something
- decrease by something
- decrease from something to something
The temperature decreased overnight.
Sales decreased by 10 percent last quarter.
The population of the town has decreased from 5,000 to 4,200.
verbtransitive
To make something smaller in size, amount, or degree.
Grammar: Takes an object: They decreased the price.
Patterns
- decrease something
- decrease something by something
The company decreased its workforce by 200.
We need to decrease the amount of waste we produce.
The medicine decreases pain within an hour.
nouncountable or uncountable
A reduction in the size, amount, or degree of something.
Grammar: Often used with in: a decrease in sales. Can be countable (a decrease) or uncountable (a decrease of 10%).
Patterns
- a decrease in something
- a decrease of something
- on the decrease
There has been a decrease in the number of accidents.
The report shows a decrease of 15 percent in energy use.
Crime is on the decrease in this area.
Word forms
| third person singular | decreases |
|---|---|
| past tense | decreased |
| past participle | decreased |
| -ing form | decreasing |
Common combinations
- decrease in
- There was a sharp decrease in temperature.
- decrease by
- The price decreased by $5.
- decrease from
- The number decreased from 100 to 80.
- decrease significantly
- Costs have decreased significantly this year.
- on the decrease
- The birth rate is on the decrease.
Synonyms and how they differ
- reduce
- Usually transitive and focuses on making something smaller; decrease can be intransitive as well.
- diminish
- More formal and often suggests a gradual loss of importance or strength; decrease is neutral and general.
- drop
- Informal and often suggests a sudden fall; decrease is more neutral and can be gradual.
Opposites
Word family
- decreasingly adverb
- In a way that becomes less and less.
- decreased adjective
- Made smaller in amount or size.
Commonly confused: decrease or increase?
decrease vs increase
Means to become larger; decrease means to become smaller. They are opposites but look similar.
Practice
The number of visitors decreased _____ 20 percent last month.
Choose one answer.
Use by to show the amount of change: decreased by 20 percent. To would show the final figure, from would show the starting point, and in is used for the noun (a decrease in visitors).
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “decrease”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.