decrease

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: de‧crease

verb

• enPR: dĭkrēs', IPA ^(key): /dɪˈkriːs/
• SAMPA: /dI"kri:s/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

noun

• enPR: dē'krēs, IPA ^(key): /ˈdiːkriːs/
• SAMPA: /"di:kri:s/

Verb

Plain form decrease

Third-person singular decreases

Past tense decreased

Past participle decreased

Present participle decreasing

A graph showing a decrease in area per person

1. (transitive & intransitive) If something decreases, it goes down in number or value.
   • Antonym: increase

   The Australian dollar has decreased 3% against the Euro.

   The government has decreased the amount of money it gives to schools.

Noun

Singular decrease

Plural decreases

1. A decrease happens when the number or value of something goes down.
   • Antonym: increase

   There has been a 3% decrease in the Australian dollar against the Euro.

   Every year we see a larger decrease in the number of students studying foreign languages.