decline

IPA: dɪkɫˈaɪn

(intransitive) To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
(intransitive) To become weaker or worse.
(transitive) To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
(transitive) To cause to decrease or diminish.
To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.
(transitive) To choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain.
(transitive, grammar, usually of substantives, adjectives and pronouns) To inflect for case, number, gender, and the like.
(transitive, grammar) To recite all the different declined forms of (a word).
(by extension) To run through from first to last; to recite in order as though declining a noun.
(American football, Canadian football) To reject a penalty against the opposing team, usually because the result of accepting it would benefit the non-penalized team less than the preceding play.

Examples of "decline" in Sentences

He declined the invitation.
He flatly declined the offers.
She coyly declines to requite.
The pope declined the opportunity.
They courteously declined the offer.
Another reason for the decline was overexposure.
Subsequently the popularity of the dialogue declined.
The decline of royalty brought about the decline of the kingdom.
After 1974, however, the birthrate steadily declined, falling to 14.5 by 1985.
This is the first time, I think I had ever use the term decline in reporting EPR's financial results.
By now the manner of writing about a Pope in decline is as ritualized as a Holy Thursday mass at Saint Peter's.
The pinyons died mainly because of an Ips epidemic I am not a big fan of the term decline as it is usually used for trees.
I would argue, however, that to some degree this decline is a product of SF being too successful (see also my prior post on the death of the sf short story).
This decline is the result of long-term trends — increasing foreign competition and, especially, the relentless replacement of people with machines — that look unlikely to abate.
Transit ridership fell by 3.8% in the first three quarters of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, and a further decline is almost certain given all the service cuts and fare increases that are being made.