Meaning & use
diminish
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Meanings
verbintransitive
To become smaller, weaker or less important, usually little by little.
Grammar: No object: the noise diminished.
Patterns
- diminish in something
- diminish over time
The pain diminished after a few days.
Interest in the show has diminished over the years.
Her energy diminished as the hike went on.
verbtransitive
To make something smaller or lessen its value or importance.
Grammar: Takes an object: diminish someone's achievement.
Patterns
- diminish something
- diminish someone
Do not let one bad day diminish your progress.
Constant criticism can diminish a child's confidence.
The scandal diminished the mayor's reputation.
Word forms
| third person singular | diminishes |
|---|---|
| past tense | diminished |
| past participle | diminished |
| -ing form | diminishing |
Common combinations
- diminishing returns
- After the fifth hour, studying has diminishing returns.
- diminish in importance
- Paper maps have diminished in importance.
- gradually diminish
- The storm gradually diminished.
- diminish the value
- Scratches diminish the value of the car.
- greatly diminished
- Her hopes were greatly diminished.
Synonyms and how they differ
- decrease
- Decrease is a neutral word for becoming smaller, mainly for amounts, while diminish often implies loss of quality or importance.
- dwindle
- Dwindle stresses slow shrinking until little remains.
- reduce
- Reduce usually implies someone does it on purpose, whereas diminish often happens by itself.
- belittle
- Belittle means to speak of someone as unimportant, a narrower sense than diminish.
Opposites
Word family
- diminution noun
- a reduction
- diminished adjective
- made smaller or less
- diminishing adjective
- becoming smaller
- diminutive adjective
- very small
Commonly confused: diminish or diminutive?
diminish vs diminutive
Diminutive describes something very small. Diminish is the verb meaning to become less.
Practice
Doctors hope the swelling will ___ over the next few days.
Choose one answer.
Diminish means to become smaller, which fits swelling going down. Increase and expand mean the opposite, and erupt is not used for swelling.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “diminish”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.