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The act of decreasing or reducing something
Answer for the clue "The act of decreasing or reducing something ", 10 letters:
diminution
Alternative clues for the word diminution
Word definitions for diminution in dictionaries
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
c.1300, from Anglo-French diminuciun , Old French diminucion , from Latin diminutionem (nominative diminutio ), earlier deminutionem , noun of action from past participle stem of deminuere (see diminish ).
Wikipedia
Word definitions in Wikipedia
Diminution may refer to: Diminution , a musical term Diminutive Diminution (satire) Diminution (risk management) Chromatin diminution
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Diminution \Dim`i*nu"tion\, n. [L. diminutio, or perh. rather deminutio: cf. F. diminution. See Diminish .] The act of diminishing, or of making or becoming less; state of being diminished; reduction in size, quantity, or degree; -- opposed to augmentation ...
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Word definitions in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
noun EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS ▪ A magnification or a diminution reveals the same pattern. ▪ But as time wore on priests found themselves facilitating their own diminution . ▪ Cohen saw no diminution in the threat from those two countries. ▪ In a minimal deficit, ...
Wiktionary
Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. 1 A lessening, decrease or reduction. 2 The act or process of making diminutive. 3 (context music English) The shortening of the notes of a melody or theme.
WordNet
Word definitions in WordNet
n. change toward something smaller or lower [syn: decline ] the statement of a theme in notes of lesser duration (usually half the length of the original) [ant: augmentation ] the act of decreasing or reducing something [syn: decrease , reduction , step-down ...
Usage examples of diminution.
If it were a case of agnosia, the patient would now be seeing what he had always seen, that is to say, there would have been no diminution of his visual powers, his brain would simply have been incapable of recognising a chair wherever there happened to be a chair, in other words, he would continue to react correctly to the luminous stimuli leading to the optic nerve, but, to use simple terms within the grasp of the layman, he would have lost the capacity to know what he knew and, moreover, to express it.
Such perversions of the appetite are manifested only when there is either a diminution in the volume of blood, deficient alimentation, defective assimilation, or a general depravity of the nutritive functions.
He had nothing for it but to endeavour to be the first to convey the already-blown news to Sir John Peachy, sheriff for Kent: his pains were rewarded by his being detained prisoner as a suspected person, while Sir John mustered his yeomanry, and, together with the neighbouring gentry and their retainers, marched towards Hythe, The wavering people, awed by this show of legal and military power, grew cool towards the White Rose, whose name, linked to change and a diminution of taxation, had for a moment excited their enthusiasm.
La Fayette, whom this measure had left without employment, feeling keenly the diminution of his importance, and instigated by the restlessness common to men of moderate capacity, conceived the hope of succeeding Bailly in the mayoralty of Paris, which that magistrate was on the point of resigning.
In a drive to combat that diminution of her soul she had tried to recover much of the innocence of her childhood and had worked hard to study and gather together the stories of Neal Custos Sylvanii.
United States upon the salary of an officer, to be deducted from the amount which otherwise would by law be payable as such salary, is a diminution of the compensation to be paid to him, which, in the case of the President of the United States, would be unconstitutional if the act of Congress levying the tax was passed during his official term.
On a cold winter day, outside, the esterases might not be able to break down the succinylcholine because of a diminution of chemical processes.
He may have been in the right as a fool, but as a Christian and a Spaniard he was certainly in the wrong, and he was probably soon convinced of the mistake he had made by the diminution in the offerings of the faithful.
When there is a diminution of vital force, resulting in impaired nutrition and disorders of blood, an alterative is required which will insensibly and gradually restore activity by removing the causes of derangement.
Technically Lent began at midnight, but there was no diminution of champagne, tafia, gumbo or pate, though having made his confession that afternoon January abstained all evening even when the opportunity presented itself.
And as pain and sorrow mark the diminution, the joy of living and the upspringing of happiness signify the increase of energy.
By these means we are able to trace the gradual diminution of responsiveness by fatigue, by extremes of heat and cold, its exaltation by stimulants, the arrest of the life-process by poison.
I do not enter into the mathematical analysis of modern geologists respecting them, as to their constant retrocession, believing that earthquake split open the present channel, yet I have no doubt that the level of Lake Erie is considerably affected by the diminution of the yielding shaly rocks of their foundation.
More frequently, however, dilatation is the result of valvular lesions, and is associated with hypertrophy, there being an increase in the thickness of the walls with a diminution of the contractile power.
Diarrhea usually attends this complaint, together with difficult breathing, loss of strength, gradual decline, fever, diminution of vital forces, and finally death.