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What is "diminish"

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diminish
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
diminish
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
diminished responsibility
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
further
▪ The LEAs' power was further diminished by the 1988 Education Reform Act, in two major ways.
▪ If anything, the ruling further diminishes that argument.
▪ To the public at large faith in the political process, already at a low ebb, will diminish further.
▪ Respect for elders, already severely weakened, will further diminish.
gradually
▪ But as the egocentrism of other periods gradually diminished, so does the egocentrism of adolescence with continued development.
greatly
▪ Hence without the existence of heterodoxy and orthodoxy, collective struggles diminish greatly in importance in traditional societies.
▪ If Terk can do this without greatly diminishing either picture or sound quality, it has a winner.
▪ And over the past 20 years, the number of closed countries has greatly diminished.
▪ You will get 10 years of use, but possibly at a greatly diminished capacity.
▪ So we need to preserve that part of vocational education but greatly diminish narrow training for specific jobs.
▪ But if the principal base of lunar operations is in the equatorial region, the attractiveness of polar ice is greatly diminished.
rapidly
▪ It will diminish rapidly with the distance in relatedness between individuals.
▪ Well, I am testimony to what it is to be responsible yet my opportunities are rapidly diminishing....
▪ However, recent evidence discussed in Chapter 5 shows that these gender-related differences are diminishing rapidly.
▪ Furthermore, none of the considerations I have adduced suggest that political violence will rapidly diminish, still less disappear.
▪ In the failing light with the wind increasing, the visibility was diminishing rapidly.
▪ The latter, as will be discussed below, is particularly important in a world where the resource base is diminishing rapidly.
significantly
▪ However, because the changes were not substantial, this does not significantly diminish the authority of those cases.
▪ But he will begin his second term as the third-highest constitutional officer in the government with his political influence significantly diminished.
▪ The bad news for small-time acts is that this exploratory role has diminished significantly over the last ten years.
steadily
▪ As the system beds down and budgets tighten the opportunities for innovation and experimentation will steadily diminish.
▪ Britain's dependence on nuclear power will therefore steadily diminish.
■ NOUN
authority
▪ Modern legislation had increasingly vested quasi-judicial powers in officials and excluded or indirectly diminished the authority of the courts.
▪ They have to understand that it does not diminish their professional authority and status if they share decision-making with the governing body.
▪ However, because the changes were not substantial, this does not significantly diminish the authority of those cases.
chance
▪ The incident appeared likely to diminish the chances of the prisoners being freed last night.
▪ Not least was that his presence diminished her chances of enjoying a happier relationship with some one else.
▪ A round of hostilities could develop that would diminish the chances of the negotiations resuming.
▪ This diminishes the chances of accidental war or pre-emptive strikes motivated by unfounded fears.
importance
▪ But to describe the bill as largely symbolic is not to diminish its importance.
▪ This model of saturation does not in any way diminish the importance of behavior change for individuals.
▪ But this did not diminish their influence and importance.
▪ This is not in any sense to diminish the importance of what sociology can achieve.
▪ Hence without the existence of heterodoxy and orthodoxy, collective struggles diminish greatly in importance in traditional societies.
▪ But this does not diminish the importance of the provisional discoveries which it contains, which the writer has moved to incorporate.
▪ Over time these grew, rather than diminished, in importance.
influence
▪ But this did not diminish their influence and importance.
need
▪ In 1938, a flood wiped out many of the camps, diminishing the need for the pack trains.
▪ Government resources have been constantly diminished by the need to prioritize defence.
number
▪ Although diminishing in number, prerogative powers clearly remain of great importance.
▪ And growing prosperity has boosted the quality of life for workers, while dramatically diminishing the number of labor complaints.
▪ Modern farming techniques have diminished the number and quality of the wetlands which remain.
▪ Whether your relationships are diminished in number or quality, the effect is detrimental to your health.
▪ Once more the adults, though diminished in number, sat around a table, whispering about what to do.
power
▪ Some women find ways of diminishing the demonic power of the ex.
▪ Its terms purport to enlarge, not to diminish the powers vested in the government.
▪ The anti-investiture decree, however great its symbolic importance, did little to diminish the power of lay rulers over ecclesiastical appointments.
role
▪ This is not to diminish the roles that homophobia played or continues to play in exacerbating the problem.
▪ Cage made music of non-musical sounds and ostensibly removed or diminished the traditional role of the composer.
significance
▪ Feminists also tend to diminish the significance of the unconscious, a move which encourages a purely psychological view of the subject.
▪ And if I use humour to avoid your problem or make light of it, then I diminish its significance.
size
▪ It is now diminishing as metric sizes were adopted some time ago.
▪ All our coinage, even our notes, diminish in size in proportion to what you can buy with it.
▪ The first is that the risk of insolvency diminishes with increased size.
▪ At once the image shrank, diminishing to its former size.
▪ The operation proceeds in waves which diminish in size as the target is approached.
value
▪ One effect of this sea change in the way the world works is the diminishing value of manual labor.
way
▪ This interpretation in no way diminishes the enigma of the relationship between electrochemical events in the nervous system and conscious experiences.
▪ This model of saturation does not in any way diminish the importance of behavior change for individuals.
▪ One point of aid was used, which in no way diminishes what is a major achievement.
▪ I thought she was right, but there was no way she could diminish my brother in my eyes.
▪ Their dedication to the cause was in no way diminished by their exile, and in many ways was enhanced by it.
▪ This prejudice, as we will see, in no way disappears or even diminishes in Feuerbach's later theory of religion.
▪ Some women find ways of diminishing the demonic power of the ex.
▪ Nevertheless, the high status of the woman's influence is in no way diminished.
■ VERB
begin
▪ During the latter part of the night, in spite of having had no sleep, feelings of fatigue begin to diminish.
▪ The dread disease of the Rappers, Rap Rootinitis, would begin to diminish.
▪ The previous autumn, the muggy monsoon heat had begun to diminish on the very day following the festival of Dusshera.
▪ However, the pain already had begun to diminish.
▪ He began to diminish the moment just past.
▪ The balsam fir, which had not shown much decline prior to 1986, also began to be diminished.
▪ The tension was also reflected in West Beirut, where support for the blockade began to diminish.
▪ My sense of urgency began to diminish.
increase
▪ Consciousness exacted its price: as surely as it increased freedom so it diminished it.
▪ Some strength or recklessness seemed to have been released in her by recent events; she had increased as Anwar had diminished.
▪ The guilt will increase and the passion diminish.
seem
▪ Hunger pangs, in any event, seemed to be diminishing.
▪ But expectations seemed to diminish day by day over the last week.
▪ What remained of Belfast's mudflats seemed certain to be diminished by unrestricted dumping.
▪ The suspicion with which the renewal movement was viewed seems to have diminished, as does the stridency of charismatic claims.
▪ The tenor of the above letter seems to endorse rather than diminish that inference - Ed.
▪ Yet these feelings seem to diminish in intensity as one gets older.
tend
▪ Feminists also tend to diminish the significance of the unconscious, a move which encourages a purely psychological view of the subject.
▪ Most reds will be emphasized by artificial light; blues and greens tend to be diminished by it.
▪ The pleasures of art tend to be diminished by returning to a complete absence of hot bath water.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ "I'm not going to diminish the fact that I was upset," McMahon said.
▪ Tate said the fences threaten to diminish property values in the neighborhood.
▪ The time Foreman spent with his children gradually diminished.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ It will diminish rapidly with the distance in relatedness between individuals.
▪ One was the idea of diminishing returns, applied in this case to income or wealth.
▪ Steady rates would diminish the risk that ever-more homeowners will refinance the mortgages underlying the bonds.
▪ Then business diminished, and the partners persuaded Stratford to live off his Prescott estate in Gloucestershire.
▪ When the food has gone, its appeal diminishes, the dance stops, the crowd disperses and a new hunt begins.
▪ With time, such resistance will doubtless diminish.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Diminish

Diminish \Di*min"ish\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Diminished; p. pr. & vb. n. Diminishing.] [Pref. di- (= L. dis-) + minish: cf. L. diminuere, F. diminuer, OE. diminuen. See Dis-, and Minish.]

  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. (Mus.) 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 scale, or Diminishing scale, a scale of gradation used in finding the different points for drawing the spiral curve of the volute.
    --Gwilt.

    Diminishing rule (Arch.), a board cut with a concave edge, for fixing the entasis and curvature of a shaft.

    Diminishing stile (Arch.), a stile which is narrower in one part than in another, as in many glazed doors.

    Syn: To decrease; lessen; abate; reduce; contract; curtail; impair; degrade. See Decrease.

Diminish

Diminish \Di*min"ish\, v. i. To become or appear less or smaller; to lessen; as, the apparent size of an object diminishes as we recede from it.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
diminish

early 15c., from merger of two obsolete verbs, diminue and minish. Diminue is from Old French diminuer "make small," from Latin diminuere "break into small pieces," variant of deminuere "lessen, diminish," from de- "completely" + minuere "make small" (see minus).\n

\nMinish is from Old French menuisier, from Latin minuere. Related: Diminished; diminishes; diminishing.

Wiktionary
diminish

vb. (context transitive English) To make smaller.

Related phrases:
WordNet
diminish

  1. v. decrease in size, extent, or range; "The amount of homework decreased towards the end of the semester"; "The cabin pressure fell dramatically"; "her weight fall to under a hundred pounds"; "his voice fell to a whisper" [syn: decrease, lessen, fall] [ant: increase]

  2. lessen the authority, dignity, or reputation of; "don't belittle your colleagues" [syn: belittle]

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Related phrases:

Usage examples of "diminish".

These juices, together with those of the pear, the peach, the plum, and other such fruits, if taken without adding cane sugar, diminish acidity in the stomach rather than provoke it: they become converted chemically into alkaline carbonates, which correct sour fermentation.

Adams with an animosity not diminished by the lapse of years since his defection from their party, strong in a consciousness of their own standing before their fellow citizens, the thirteen notables responded with much acrimony to Mr.

But when the atoms come under the influence of the higher-level morphogenetic field of a molecule, these probabilities are modified in such a way that the probability of events leading toward the actualization of the final form are enhanced, while the probability of other events is diminished.

After eight long years of pain and fear, she now knew why her body turned traitor on her, beginning with an overwhelming arousal and ending with a bleak, almost agonizing pain before slowly diminishing.

On the 2d he was rather quieter, and the alarming symptoms diminished a little.

As the weeks passed, Alec realized that aside from certain rapidly diminishing ethical qualms, he had never been happier.

The previous night, from the deck of the anchored Gull, they had heard terrifying, blood-chilling roars, rising and falling, then ending in a diminishing series of grunts and groans that sounded like the chorus of all the devils of hell.

The circumstances and conditions of the system increase or diminish the effects of medicine, so that an aperient at one time may act as a cathartic at another, and a dose that will simply prove to be an anodyne when the patient is suffering great pain will act as a narcotic when he is not.

If the radial disturbing force be exterior to the disturbed body, it will diminish the central force, and cause a progressive motion in the aphelion point of the orbit.

And, we might also ask, why the tangential resistance to the comet of Encke should not also produce a retrograde motion in the apsides of the orbit, instead of diminishing its period?

I don want to remove the archaisms, because the play, as written, has its glorious music and any change will diminish it.

Speed is controlled by increasing or diminishing the number of armature bearings in series with the accumulator--all of which is simply accomplished by a lever which the pilot moves from his position on deck where he ordinarily lies upon his stomach, his safety belt snapped to heavy rings in the deck.

When they discreetly confronted the attaché with still photographs, he burst into laughter and asked them if they could supply him with copies to send to his wife in Paris to prove that his virility had not diminished during his two years in Moscow.

The water splashed down his legs to his hooves and flowed on out of the baobab tree, tapering off as its volume diminished.

Tea Table-- this latter a great smooth-surfaced mass of rock, with diminishing wine-glass stem, perched some fifty or sixty feet above the river, beside a beflowered and garlanded precipice, and sufficiently like a tea-table to answer for anybody, Devil or Christian.