English words for '(rare) The action or process of decreasing; a decrease; diminution.'
Closest matches for "(rare) The action or process of decreasing; a decrease; diminution." are ranked by semantic fit across dictionary definitions.
Search results
verb
- (transitive) To cause to decrease or diminish.
- (intransitive) To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
- (by extension) To run through from first to last; to recite in order as though declining a noun.
- (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.
- (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.
- (transitive) To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
- (intransitive) To become weaker or worse.
- To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.
- (transitive, grammar) To recite all the different declined forms of (a word): to recite its declension.
- go down
- not accept as true
- show unwillingness towards
- inflect for number, gender, case, etc.
- grow smaller
- fall in value
- grow worse
noun
- A reduction or diminution of activity, prevalence or quantity.
- Downward movement, fall.
- A deterioration of condition; a weakening or worsening.
- A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.
- The act of declining or refusing something.
- a condition inferior to an earlier condition; a gradual falling off from a better state; decline
- change toward something smaller or lower
- a gradual decrease; as of stored charge or current
- a downward slope or bend
noun
- (figurative, uncommon) A moment or period where something is weakened, diminished or less effective.
- (electricity) A period of low alternating current line voltage, causing a reduction in illumination.
- (Philippines, Australia, Hong Kong) A blackout, regardless of time of day.
- A temporary dimming of vision, usually with a brown hue and accompanied by loss of peripheral vision or tunnel vision.
- A power outage during the day; distinguished from a blackout, which occurs at night.
- (firefighting) A temporary closing of a fire station, usually due to budget restrictions.
- darkness resulting from the extinction of lights (as in a city invisible to enemy aircraft)
adj
- characterized by or causing diminution or curtailment
- Causing the physical reduction or diminution of something.
- (chemistry, metallurgy, biology, economics) That reduces a substance etc. to a more simple or basic form.
- (now frequently derogatory) That reduces an argument, issue etc. to its most basic terms; simplistic, reductionist.
noun
- An amount by which a quantity decreases or is decreased.
- the amount by which something decreases
- the act of decreasing or reducing something
- (knitting, crochet) A reduction in the number of stitches, usually accomplished by suspending the stitch to be decreased from another existing stitch or by knitting it together with another stitch. See Decrease (knitting).
- a process of becoming smaller or shorter
- a change downward
verb
noun
- A lessening, decrease or reduction.
- the act of decreasing or reducing something
- (music) a compositional technique where the composer shortens the melody by shortening its note values.
- The act or process of making diminutive.
- the statement of a theme in notes of lesser duration (usually half the length of the original)
- change toward something smaller or lower
noun
verb
noun
- the act of decreasing something markedly
- the state of being depleted
- The act of depleting, or the state of being depleted; exhaustion.
- (accounting, mining, timber industry, oil industry) gradual expense or use of natural resources over time.
- The consumption of a resource faster than it can be replenished.
noun
- the act of decreasing or reducing something
- the act of reducing complexity
- any process in which electrons are added to an atom or ion (as by removing oxygen or adding hydrogen); always occurs accompanied by oxidation of the reducing agent
- The act, process, or result of reducing.
- (philosophy, phenomenology) A philosophical procedure intended to reveal the objects of consciousness as pure phenomena. (See phenomenological reduction.)
- (computing theory) A transformation of one problem into another problem, such as mapping reduction or polynomial-time reduction.
- (cooking) The process of rapidly boiling a sauce to concentrate it.
- (mathematics) The rewriting of an expression into a simpler form.
- (historical, Roman Catholicism) A religious settlement created during a mission by Spanish or Portuguese colonists with the intent of evangelizing Christianity to the local population.
- (music) An arrangement for a far smaller number of parties, e.g. a keyboard solo based on a full opera.
- (medicine) A medical procedure to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment, usually with a closed approach but sometimes with an open approach (surgery).
- (paying) A reduced price of something by a fraction or decimal.
- The amount or rate by which something is reduced, e.g. in price.
- (chemistry) A reaction in which electrons are gained and valence is reduced; often by the removal of oxygen or the addition of hydrogen.
- (metalworking) The ratio of a material's change in thickness compared to its thickness prior to forging and/or rolling.
noun
- the action of lessening in severity or intensity
- to act in such a way as to cause an offense to seem less serious
- a partial excuse to mitigate censure; an attempt to represent an offense as less serious than it appears by showing mitigating circumstances
- A reduction or decrease of something harmful or unpleasant.
noun
- the action of lessening in severity or intensity
- quality of being moderate and avoiding extremes
- the trait of avoiding excesses
- a change for the better
- An instance of moderating: bringing something away from extremes, especially in a beneficial way
- The process of moderating a discussion
- Usage of neutron moderator to slow down neutrons in a nuclear reactor.
- The state or quality of being moderate; avoidance of extremes
verb
- (transitive) To rarefy.
- (transitive) To weaken.
- (brewing) (of a beer) To become less dense as a result of the conversion of sugar to alcohol.
- (transitive) To make thinner, as by physically reshaping, starving, or decaying.
- (intransitive) To become thin or fine; to grow less.
- (transitive, medicine) To reduce the virulence of a bacterium or virus.
- (transitive, electronics) To reduce the amplitude of an electrical, radio, or optical signal.
- (transitive) To reduce in size, force, value, amount, or degree.
- weaken the consistency of (a chemical substance)
- become weaker, in strength, value, or magnitude
adj
noun
- A decrease; especially, a sudden one.
- A time during which passengers, such as school children, are dropped off; the event or act of dropping them off.
- A delivery; the act of leaving a package, etc.
- The precipitous outer side of a coral reef, facing the open sea.
- (Internet) A visitor to a website who ceases to continue using and navigating around the site after reaching some specified page; or such an act of cessation.
- A sudden downward slope or cliff.
- (especially US) A space reserved outside a bus or railway station for vehicles stopping to drop off passengers for onward transit.
- a steep high face of rock
- a noticeable deterioration in performance or quality
- a change downward
noun
- the act of decreasing (something) in size or volume or quantity or scope
- the process or result of becoming smaller or pressed together
- a word formed from two or more words by omitting or combining some sounds
- (physiology) a shortening or tensing of a part or organ (especially of a muscle or muscle fiber)
- An act of incurring debt; also (generally), an act of acquiring something (generally negative).
- (linguistics) A process whereby one or more sounds of a free morpheme (a word) are reduced or lost, such that it becomes a bound morpheme (a clitic) that attaches phonologically to an adjacent word.
- (ring theory, of an ideal in the codomain of a ring homomorphism) The preimage of the given ideal under the given homomorphism.
- (biology, medicine) The process of contracting or becoming infected with a disease.
- (orthography) In the English language: a shortened form of a word, often with omitted letters replaced by an apostrophe or a diacritical mark.
- (biology, medicine) A stage of wound healing during which the wound edges are gradually pulled together.
- (linguistics, phonology, prosody) Synonym of syncope (“the elision or loss of a sound from the interior of a word, especially of a vowel sound with loss of a syllable”).
- (biology, medicine) A shortening of a muscle during its use; specifically, a strong and often painful shortening of the uterine muscles prior to or during childbirth.
- (economics) A period of economic decline or negative growth.
- (by extension) A shorthand symbol indicating an omission for the purpose of brevity.
verb
- (intransitive) To gradually decrease and eventually cease.
- (intransitive) To stop talking because one has forgotten what one was going to say.
- (intransitive, ambitransitive) To manually dry dishes and utensils.
- (of an actor) To forget one's lines.
- (transitive) To cause to become dry.
- (1930s US slang) To stop talking or drop a topic.
- (intransitive) To become dry (often of weather); to lose water.
- (transitive) To deprive someone of (something vital).
- dry up and shrivel due to complete loss of moisture
- lose water or moisture
verb
adj
noun
- A slender wax candle.
- Someone who works with tape or tapes.
- (by extension) A small light.
- A thin stick used for lighting candles, either a wax-coated wick or a slow-burning wooden rod.
- The portion of an object with such a form.
- A tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness and/or cross section in an elongated object.
- (weaving) One who operates a tape machine.
- A cone-shaped item for stretching the hole for an ear gauge (piercing).
- (figurative) Gradual reduction over time.
- (machining) Ellipsis of machine taper.
- the property possessed by a shape that narrows toward a point (as a wedge or cone)
- a convex shape that narrows toward a point
- a loosely woven cord (in a candle or oil lamp) that draws fuel by capillary action up into the flame
- stick of wax with a wick in the middle
verb
- (figurative) To diminish in energy; to slow down or peter out; to be gradually canceled or ended.
- (figurative) To decline in resources or capability.
- (computing, intransitive, of a disk drive) To reduce its spinning speed from that required for reading and writing.
- (of a rotating body) To reduce its speed of rotation.
noun
- A drop to a lower status or condition; decline.
- A way down.
- A falling upon or invasion.
- (topology) A particular extension of the idea of gluing.
- An instance of descending; act of coming down.
- Lineage or hereditary derivation.
- A sloping passage or incline.
- the act of changing your location in a downward direction
- the hereditary derivation of an individual
- a movement downward
- the kinship relation between an individual and the individual's progenitors
- properties attributable to your ancestry
- a downward slope or bend
noun
- process or result of becoming less or smaller
- the act of stealing goods that are on display in a store
- the amount by which something shrinks
- (slang) The reduction in size of the male genitalia when cold, such as from immersion in cold water.
- The loss of merchandise through theft, spoilage, and obsolescence: the shrinking of inventory.
- The act of shrinking, or the proportion by which something shrinks.
verb
adj
- Having a small penis, muscles, or other important body parts, regardless of overall body size.
- Not prolonged in duration; not extended in time; short.
- Humiliated or insignificant.
- (figuratively, not comparable) Young, as a child.
- (especially clothing, food or drink) That is small (the manufactured size).
- Synonym of little (“of an industry or institution(s) therein: operating on a small scale, unlike larger counterparts”).
- (writing, not comparable) Minuscule or lowercase, referring to written or printed letters.
- Evincing little worth or ability; not large-minded; paltry; mean.
- Not large or big; insignificant; few in number.
- (of a voice) faint
- limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
- (of children and animals) young, immature
- relatively moderate, limited, or small
- not large but sufficient in size or amount
- lowercase
- low or inferior in station or quality
- slight or limited; especially in degree or intensity or scope
- have fine or very small constituent particles
- made to seem smaller or less (especially in worth)
adv
noun
- (countable, especially clothing, food or drink) An item labelled or denoted as being that size.
- (countable, rare) Any part of something that is smaller or slimmer than the rest, now usually with anatomical reference to the back.
- (uncountable, especially clothing, food or drink) One of several common sizes to which an item may be manufactured, smaller than a medium.
- (countable, especially with respect to clothing) One who fits an item of that size.
- the slender part of the back
- a garment size for a small person
verb
- (intransitive) To become less lively; to diminish (by itself).
- (transitive) To render less lively; to diminish; to muffle.
- (transitive) To make soundproof.
- lessen the momentum or velocity of
- convert (metallic mercury) into a grey powder consisting of minute globules, as by shaking with chalk or fatty oil
- become lifeless, less lively, intense, or active; lose life, force, or vigor
- make vague or obscure or make (an image) less visible
- make less lively, intense, or vigorous; impair in vigor, force, activity, or sensation
- make vapid or deprive of spirit
- cut a girdle around so as to kill by interrupting the circulation of water and nutrients
noun
- a sudden sharp decrease in some quantity
- a candle that is made by repeated dipping in a pool of wax or tallow
- a brief immersion
- a brief swim in water
- tasty mixture or liquid into which bite-sized foods are dipped
- a thief who steals from the pockets or purses of others in public places
- a gymnastic exercise on the parallel bars in which the body is lowered and raised by bending and straightening the arms
- a depression in an otherwise level surface
- (physics) the angle that a magnetic needle makes with the plane of the horizon
- (informal) A foolish person.
- (turpentine industry) The viscid exudation that is dipped out from incisions in the trees. Virgin dip is the runnings of the first year, yellow dip the runnings of subsequent years.
- A sauce for dipping.
- (geology) The angle from horizontal of a planar geologic surface, such as a fault line.
- A lower section of a road or geological feature.
- The action of dipping or plunging for a moment into a liquid.
- A tank or trough where cattle or sheep are immersed in chemicals to kill parasites.
- (bodybuilding) A gymnastic or bodybuilding exercise on parallel bars in which the performer, resting on his hands, lets his arms bend and his body sink until his chin is level with the bars, and then raises himself by straightening his arms.
- (computer graphics) Initialism of device-independent pixel.
- (finance, informal) A financial asset in decline, seen as an investment opportunity.
- (uncountable) Finely ground tobacco, consumed by placing a small amount between the lip and gum.
- (aeronautics) A sudden drop followed by a climb, usually to avoid obstacles or as the result of getting into an airhole.
- A swim, usually a short swim to refresh.
- A dip stick.
- (ABDL, informal, uncommon) A diaper; diap, dipe.
- (informal) A diplomat.
- Inclination downward; direction below a horizontal line; slope; pitch.
- (dance) A move in many different styles of partner dances, often performed at the end of a dance, in which the follower leans far to the side and is supported by the leader.
- (birdwatching, colloquial) The act of missing out on seeing a sought after bird.
- (UK, dialect, uncountable, Birmingham) Fried bread.
verb
- dip into a liquid
- immerse in a disinfectant solution
- dip into a liquid while eating
- place (candle wicks) into hot, liquid wax
- stain an object by immersing it in a liquid
- slope downwards
- immerse briefly into a liquid so as to wet, coat, or saturate
- appear to move downward
- lower briefly
- take a small amount from
- plunge (one's hand or a receptacle) into a container
- scoop up by plunging one's hand or a ladle below the surface
- switch (a car's headlights) from a higher to a lower beam
- go down momentarily
- (intransitive) (of a value or rate) To decrease slightly.
- (transitive) To treat cattle or sheep by immersion in chemical solution.
- (transitive) To perform (a bow or curtsey) by inclining the body.
- (transitive) To lower into a liquid.
- (intransitive) To perform the action of plunging a dipper, ladle. etc. into a liquid or soft substance and removing a part.
- (transitive) To use a dip stick to check oil level in an engine.
- (transitive) To lower a light's beam.
- (birdwatching, colloquial) To miss out on seeing a sought after bird.
- (transitive) To briefly lower the body by bending the knees while keeping the body in an upright position, usually in rhythm, as when singing or dancing.
- (transitive) To lower (a flag), particularly a national ensign, to a partially hoisted position in order to render or to return a salute. While lowered, the flag is said to be “at the dip.” A flag being carried on a staff may be dipped by leaning it forward at an approximate angle of 45 degrees.
- (intransitive, colloquial) To leave; to quit or abandon.
- (transitive) To take out, by dipping a dipper, ladle, or other receptacle, into a fluid and removing a part; often with out.
- (intransitive) To incline downward from the plane of the horizon.
- To consume snuff by placing a pinch behind the lip or under the tongue so that the active chemical constituents of the snuff may be absorbed into the system for their narcotic effect.
- (transitive) To wet, as if by immersing; to moisten.
- (transitive) To immerse for baptism.
- (intransitive) To plunge or engage thoroughly in any affair.
- (intransitive) To immerse oneself; to become plunged in a liquid; to sink.
- (transitive) To engage as a pledge; to mortgage.
- (transitive, dance) To perform a dip dance move (often phrased with the leader as the subject noun and the follower as the subject noun being dipped)
- (intransitive) To sink, drop, or slope downwards.
noun
- a sudden sharp decrease in some quantity
- a shape that is spherical and small
- a central depository where things can be left or picked up
- a steep high face of rock
- a free and rapid descent by the force of gravity
- a predetermined hiding place for the deposit and distribution of illicit goods (such as drugs or stolen property)
- the act of dropping something
- a curtain that can be lowered and raised onto a stage from the flies; often used as background scenery
- a small indefinite quantity (especially of a liquid)
- Of women's clothes: the difference between the bust circumference and hip circumference.
- (online gaming, video games) An item made available for the player to pick up from the remains of a defeated enemy.
- (pinball) Ellipsis of drop target.
- (rugby) Ellipsis of drop kick.
- (pharmacology, chiefly in the plural) A liquid medicine that is intended to be administered in drops (sense 1).
- (agriculture) A fruit which has fallen off a tree, etc., or has been knocked off accidentally, rather than picked.
- (informal) Only used in get the drop on, have the drop on: an advantage.
- A decline in degree, quality, quantity, or rate.
- (nautical) The depth of a (square) sail (generally applied to the courses only); the vertical dimension of a sail.
- (electrics, telecommunications) An overhead electrical line running from a utility pole to a customer's building or other premises.
- (American football) A dropped pass.
- Usually preceded by the: relegation from one division to a lower one.
- (law enforcement) The distance that a person drops when being executed by hanging.
- Often preceded by a defining word: a small, round piece of hard candy, such as a lemon drop; a lozenge.
- (theater) A curtain which falls in front of a theatrical stage; also, a section of (cloth) scenery lowered on to the stage like a curtain.
- (slang, US) An automobile with a drop-top roof, a convertible.
- Licorice in confectionery form.
- Ellipsis of drop hammer or drop press.
- The distance below a cliff or other high position through which someone or something could fall; hence, a steep slope.
- (also figuratively) A small quantity of liquid, just large enough to hold its own rounded shape through surface tension, especially one that falls from a source of liquid.
- (law enforcement, informal) Preceded by the: execution by hanging.
- (music) A point in a song, usually electronic music such as dubstep, house, trance, or trap, where there is a very noticeable and pleasing change in bass, tempo, and/or overall tone; a climax, a highlight.
- A release (of music, a video game, etc).
- (Ireland, informal) A single measure of whisky.
- Of men's clothes: the difference between the chest circumference and waist circumference.
- (figuratively) A very small quantity of liquid, or (by extension) of anything.
- (law enforcement) A trapdoor (“hinged platform”) on a gallows; a gallows itself.
- An act of moving downwards under the force of gravity; a descent, a fall.
- The vertical length of a hanging curtain.
- A mechanism for lowering something, such as a machine for lowering heavy weights on to a ship's deck, or a device for temporarily lowering a gas jet, etc.
- (pharmacology) A dose of liquid medicine in the form of a drop (sense 1).
- (engineering) The distance of the axis of a shaft below the base of a hanger.
- (surfing) A near vertical decent down the face of a breaking wave.
- (cricket) A place (specified by an ordinal) in the batting order after the openers.
- (architecture) An ornament resembling a pendant; a gutta.
- (American football) Ellipsis of drop-back.
- (gambling) The amount of money that a gambler exchanges for chips in a casino.
- (chiefly British) Usually preceded by the: alcoholic spirits in general.
- (golf) Ellipsis of drop shot.
- The cover mounted on a swivel over a keyhole that rests over the keyhole when not in use to keep out debris, but is swiveled out of the way before inserting the key.
- (chiefly Australia, British) A small amount of an alcoholic beverage.
- A place where items or supplies may be left for others to collect, whether openly (as with a mail drop), or secretly or illegally (as in crime or espionage); a drop-off point.
- An instance of making a delivery of people, supplies, or things, especially by parachute out of an aircraft (an airdrop), but also by truck, etc.
verb
- pay out
- utter with seeming casualness
- take (a drug, especially LSD), by mouth
- change from one level to another
- remove (cargo, people, etc.) from and leave
- lower the pitch of (musical notes)
- fall or descend to a lower place or level
- stop pursuing or acting
- to fall vertically
- let fall to the ground
- cause to fall by or as if by delivering a blow
- fall or sink into a state of exhaustion or death
- grow progressively worse
- stop associating with
- leave undone or leave out
- let or cause to fall in drops
- to remove
- go down in value
- lose (a game)
- omit (a letter or syllable) in speaking or writing
- give birth; used for animals
- hang loosely
- terminate an association with
- (cooking) To cook (food, especially fast food), particularly by lowering into hot oil to deep-fry, or by grilling.
- (transitive, music) To tune (a guitar string, etc.) to a lower note.
- (intransitive) Of a liquid: to fall in drops or droplets.
- (transitive) To cease concerning oneself over (someone or something); to have nothing more to do with (a discussion, subject, etc.).
- (intransitive, computing) To enter a more basic interface.
- (transitive) To make (someone or something) fall to the ground from a blow, gunshot, etc.; to bring down, to shoot down; to kill.
- (intransitive, physiology, informal) Of the testicles: to hang further away from the body and begin producing sperm due to puberty.
- (transitive) To reduce; to make smaller.
- Especially in drop acid: to swallow (a drug, particularly LSD).
- (intransitive) Of a voice: to lower in timbre, often due to puberty.
- (transitive, computing, music, television, colloquial) To release (a programme, software, a music album or song, etc.) to the public.
- (intransitive) To decrease, diminish, or lessen in condition, degree, value, etc.
- (intransitive, computing, music, television, colloquial) Of a programme, software, a music album or song, etc.: to enter public distribution.
- (transitive) To drip (a liquid) in drops or small amounts.
- (originally US) To (unexpectedly) lose (a competition, game, etc.).
- To lose, spend, or otherwise part with (money).
- (intransitive, also figuratively) To fall (straight down) under the influence of gravity, like a drop of liquid.
- (intransitive) To come to an end (by not being kept up); to lapse, to stop.
- (intransitive) To fall into a particular condition or state.
- (intransitive, online gaming, video games) Of an item: To appear for the player to pick up, usually after an enemy has been defeated.
- To impart (something).
- (intransitive) Usually followed by by, in, or into: of a person: to visit someone or somewhere informally or without a prior appointment.
- (intransitive) To fall or sink quickly or suddenly to the ground.
- (rugby) To score (a goal) by means of a drop kick.
- (transitive) To cancel or cease to participate in (a scheduled course, event, or project).
- To perform (rap music).
- (transitive) To mention (something) casually or incidentally, usually in conversation.
- (transitive) To set down (someone or something) from a vehicle; to stop and deliver or deposit (someone or something); to drop off.
- (transitive) To lower (a sound, a voice, etc.) in pitch or volume.
- (transitive, computing) To present (the user) with a more basic interface.
- (transitive) To cease to include (something), as if on a list; to dismiss, to eject, to expel.
- To quickly lower or take down (one's trousers), especially in public.
- (cricket) Of a fielder: to fail to dismiss (a batsman) by accidentally dropping a batted ball that had initially been caught.
- (transitive, linguistics) To fail to write, or (especially) to pronounce (a syllable, letter, etc.).
- To pass or use (counterfeit cheques, money, etc.).
- (intransitive) To collapse in exhaustion or injury; also, to fall dead, or to fall in death.
- (transitive, ergative, also figuratively) To let (something) fall; to allow (something) to fall (either by releasing hold of, or losing one's grip on).
- (transitive) To move to a lower position; to allow to hang downwards; to lower.
- (intransitive) Of a song or sound: to lower in key, pitch, tempo, or other quality.
- (transitive, online gaming, video games) Of a defeated enemy or container: To leave behind an item that the player can collect.
- To play (a portion of music) in the manner of a disc jockey.
- (intransitive, gambling) To drop out of the betting.
- (transitive) Of an animal (usually a sheep): to give birth to (young); of a bird: to lay (an egg).
- (transitive) To let (a letter, etc.) fall into a postbox; hence, to send (a letter, email, or other message) in an offhand manner.
- (transitive) To dispose or get rid of (something); to lose, to remove.
- (US, Singapore, ergative, military, slang) To make someone, or be made to do push-ups or some other form of exercise on the ground as punishment.
- (intransitive) To fall behind or to the rear of a group of people, etc., as a result of not keeping up with those at the front.
noun
- a sudden sharp decrease in some quantity
- a sudden drop from an upright position
- a sudden decline in strength or number or importance
- a free and rapid descent by the force of gravity
- the act of surrendering (usually under agreed conditions)
- when a wrestler's shoulders are forced to the mat
- the season when the leaves fall from the trees
- a movement downward
- a lapse into sin; a loss of innocence or of chastity
- the time of day immediately following sunset
- a downward slope or bend
- (nautical) The chasing of a hunted whale.
- A hairpiece for women consisting of long strands of hair on a woven backing, intended primarily to cover hair loss.
- That which falls or cascades.
- The lid, on a piano, that covers the keyboard.
- (cricket, of a wicket) The action of a batsman being out.
- A loss of greatness or status.
- An old Scots unit of measure equal to six ells.
- The act of moving to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
- A reduction in quantity, pitch, etc.
- (wrestling) An instance of a wrestler being pinned to the mat.
- (nautical) The part of the rope of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting (usu. plural).
- A short, flexible piece of leather forming part of a bullwhip, placed between the thong and the cracker.
- The height of that which falls or cascades.
- (informal, US) Blame or punishment for a failure or misdeed.
- (curling) A defect in the ice which causes stones thrown into an area to drift in a given direction.
verb
- drop oneself to a lower or less erect position
- move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
- assume a disappointed or sad expression
- slope downward
- pass suddenly and passively into a state of body or mind
- lose one's chastity
- yield to temptation or sin
- decrease in size, extent, or range
- lose an upright position suddenly
- move in a specified direction
- begin vigorously
- die, as in battle or in a hunt
- fall to somebody by assignment or lot; passed
- be due
- be inherited by
- come out; issue
- occur at a specified time or place
- be born, used chiefly of lambs
- lose office or power
- touch or seem as if touching visually or audibly
- come under, be classified or included
- come into the possession of
- fall or flow in a certain way
- come as if by falling
- descend in free fall under the influence of gravity
- fall from clouds
- be captured
- to be given by assignment or distribution
- be cast down
- to be given by right or inheritance
- suffer defeat, failure, or ruin
- go as if by falling
- To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
- (intransitive) To collapse; to be overthrown or defeated.
- (intransitive) To become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc.).
- To come down, to drop or descend.
- (copulative, in idiomatic expressions) To become (chiefly used with negative states).
- (intransitive) To descend in character or reputation; to become degraded; to sink into vice, error, or sin.
- To occur (on a certain day of the week, date, or similar); to happen.
- To come as if by dropping down.
- To come to the ground deliberately, to prostrate oneself.
- (intransitive) To be dropped or uttered carelessly.
- (intransitive) To happen; to come to pass; to chance or light (upon).
- (intransitive) To become ensnared or entrapped; to be worse off than before.
- (intransitive) To begin with haste, ardour, or vehemence; to rush or hurry.
- (intransitive) To be allotted to; to arrive through chance, fate, or inheritance.
- (intransitive, formal, euphemistic) To die, especially in battle or by disease.
- (intransitive) To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or appear dejected; said of the face.
- To be brought to the ground.
- (intransitive, of a fabric) To hang down (under the influence of gravity).
- (intransitive, slang, African-American Vernacular) To visit; to go to a place.
intj
verb
- (transitive, rare) To effect mincingly.
- (transitive) To lessen; to diminish; to diminish in speaking; to speak of lightly or slightingly; to minimise.
- (transitive) To make less; to make small.
- (intransitive) To walk with short steps; to walk in a prim, affected manner.
- (intransitive) To act or talk with affected nicety; to affect delicacy in manner.
- To say or utter vaguely (not directly or frankly).
- (transitive, cooking) To cut into very small pieces; to chop finely.
- (transitive) To affect; to pronounce affectedly or with an accent.
- walk daintily
- cut into small pieces
- make less severe or harsh
noun
- (countable, Cockney rhyming slang, chiefly in the plural) An eye (from mince pie).
- (countable) An affected (often dainty or short and precise) gait.
- (uncountable) Finely chopped mixed fruit used in Christmas pies; mincemeat.
- (countable) An affected manner, especially of speaking; an affectation.
- (UK, slang, uncountable) Something worthless; rubbish.
- (uncountable) Finely chopped meat; minced meat.
- food chopped into small bits
verb
- (intransitive) To progressively lose its splendor, value, ardor, power, intensity etc.; to decline.
- (intransitive, astronomy) For the Moon to pass through the phases of its monthly cycle where its surface is less and less visible.
- (intransitive) Said of a time period that comes to an end.
- (intransitive) For light to dim or diminish in strength.
- become smaller
- grow smaller
- decrease in phase
noun
- A gradual diminution in power, value, intensity etc.
- The lunar phase during which the sun seems to illuminate less of the moon as its sunlit area becomes progressively smaller as visible from Earth.
- (woodworking) A rounded corner caused by lack of wood, often showing bark.
- (Scotland, slang) A child.
- (literary) The end of a period.
- a gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number)
verb
- diminish or discontinue abruptly
- make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret
- find the solution or key to
- become punctured or penetrated
- become separated into pieces or fragments
- do a break dance
- enter someone's (virtual or real) property in an unauthorized manner, usually with the intent to steal or commit a violent act
- discontinue an association or relation; go different ways
- fall sharply
- separate from a clinch, in boxing
- cause to give up a habit
- weaken or destroy in spirit or body
- change directions suddenly
- exchange for smaller units of money
- undergo breaking
- give up
- interrupt a continued activity
- interrupt the flow of current in
- break a piece from a whole
- make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one's own by quitting or fleeing
- move away or escape suddenly
- invalidate by judicial action
- destroy the completeness of a set of related items
- cease an action temporarily
- happen or take place
- render inoperable or ineffective
- emerge from the surface of a body of water
- come to an end (of an event)
- cause the failure or ruin of
- put an end to a state or an activity
- fracture a bone of
- stop operating or functioning
- curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves
- terminate or end
- come forth or begin from a state of latency
- make submissive, obedient, or useful
- crack; of the male voice in puberty
- vary or interrupt a uniformity or continuity
- destroy the integrity of; usually by force; cause to separate into pieces or fragments
- come into being
- force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up
- find a flaw in
- ruin completely
- become fractured; break or crack on the surface only
- happen
- go to pieces
- break down, literally or metaphorically
- act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises
- pierce or penetrate
- surpass in excellence
- lessen in force or effect
- change suddenly from one tone quality or register to another
- make the opening shot that scatters the balls
- scatter or part
- be broken in
- assign to a lower position; reduce in rank
- reduce to bankruptcy
- be released or become known; of news
- fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns
- (transitive, tennis) To win a game (against one's opponent) as receiver.
- (intransitive, of a storm) To begin or end.
- (intransitive, sports) To counter-attack.
- (intransitive, of a spell of settled weather) To end.
- (intransitive) To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength.
- (transitive, ergative) To disclose or make known an item of news, a band, etc.
- (intransitive, of a male voice) To become deeper at puberty.
- (transitive, backgammon) To remove one of the two men on (a point).
- (transitive) To end (a connection); to disconnect.
- (intransitive, billiards, snooker, pool) To make the first shot; to scatter the balls from the initial neat arrangement.
- (intransitive) To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief.
- (intransitive, of a voice) To alter in type due to emotion or strain: in men, generally to go up, in women, sometimes to go down; to crack.
- (specifically) To cause the shell of (an egg) to crack, so that the inside (yolk) is accessible.
- (transitive, theater) To end the run of (a play).
- (transitive) To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss.
- (intransitive) To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change gait.
- (intransitive) To interrupt or cease one's work or occupation temporarily; to go on break.
- (transitive) To violate; to fail to adhere to.
- (specifically) To open (a safe) without using the correct key, combination, or the like.
- (transitive) To divide (something, often money) into smaller units.
- (transitive) To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate.
- (transitive) To cause (a barrier) to no longer bar.
- (intransitive, of morning, dawn, day etc.) To arrive.
- (transitive) To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of.
- (transitive, with for) To (attempt to) disengage and flee to; to make a run for.
- (rare, mainly historical or a misspelling) To brake.
- (copulative, informal) To suddenly become.
- (transitive) To interrupt (a fall) by inserting something so that the falling object does not (immediately) hit something else beneath.
- (transitive) To change a steady state abruptly.
- To turn an animal into a beast of burden.
- (music, slang) To B-boy; to breakdance.
- (specifically, in programming) To cause (some feature of a program or piece of software) to stop functioning properly; to cause a regression.
- (programming) To suspend the execution of a program during debugging so that the state of the program can be investigated.
- (transitive, intransitive) To crack or fracture (bone) under a physical strain.
- (intransitive) To burst forth; to make its way; to come into view.
- (ergative, transitive, intransitive) To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.
- (computing) To cause, or allow the occurrence of, a line break.
- (transitive) To ruin financially.
- (transitive, gaming slang) To render (a game) unchallenging by altering its rules or exploiting loopholes or weaknesses in them in a way that gives a player an unfair advantage.
- (finance, intransitive) Of prices on the stock exchange: to fall suddenly.
- (transitive, military, most often in the passive tense) To demote; to reduce the military rank of.
- (computing) To terminate the execution of a program before normal completion.
- (intransitive, of a fever) To go down, in terms of temperature, indicating that the most dangerous part of the illness has passed.
- (transitive, intransitive) To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether.
- (intransitive, of a sauce or emulsion) To de-emulsify.
- (transitive) To surpass or do better than (a specific number); to do better than (a record), setting a new record.
- (transitive) To cause (a person or animal) to lose spirit or will; to crush the spirits of.
- (intransitive, of a sound) To become audible suddenly.
- (intransitive, of a wave of water) To collapse into surf, after arriving in shallow water.
- (transitive) To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce.
noun
- an unexpected piece of good luck
- an abrupt change in the tone or register of the voice (as at puberty or due to emotion)
- the opening shot that scatters the balls in billiards or pool
- some abrupt occurrence that interrupts an ongoing activity
- a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something
- an escape from jail
- a personal or social separation (as between opposing factions)
- (tennis) a score consisting of winning a game when your opponent was serving
- a pause from doing something (as work)
- the act of breaking something
- any frame in which a bowler fails to make a strike or spare
- an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity
- the occurrence of breaking
- a sudden dash
- (geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other
- breaking of hard tissue such as bone
- (programming) Ellipsis of breakpoint.
- (music) The transition area between a singer's vocal registers; the passaggio.
- A rest or pause, usually from work.
- A physical space that opens up in something or between two things.
- An interruption of continuity; departure from or rupture with.
- Alternative form of brake (“cart or carriage without a body, for breaking in horses”)
- (computing) The separation between lines, paragraphs or pages of a written text.
- (soccer) The counter-attack.
- A short holiday.
- (snooker) The number of points scored by one player in one visit to the table.
- (finance) A sudden fall in prices on the stock exchange.
- A scheduled interval of days or weeks between periods of school instruction; a holiday.
- (computing) A keystroke or other signal that causes a program to terminate or suspend execution.
- (UK, education) A time for students to talk or play between lessons.
- (geography, chiefly in the plural) An area along a river that features steep banks, bluffs, or gorges (e.g., Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, US).
- A significant change in circumstance, attitude, perception, or focus of attention.
- (music) A section of extended repetition of the percussion break to a song, created by a hip-hop DJ as rhythmic dance music.
- (British, weather) A change, particularly the end of a spell of persistent good or bad weather.
- An interval or intermission between two parts of a performance, for example a theatre show, broadcast, or sports game.
- (surfing) A place where waves break (that is, where waves pitch or spill forward creating white water).
- An act of escaping.
- The beginning (of the morning).
- (music) A short section of music, often between verses, in which some performers stop while others continue.
- A temporary split with a romantic partner.
- (tennis) A game won by the receiving player(s).
- (horse racing) The start of a horse race.
- The opening of packages of cards for a collectible card game, often for further distribution to paying customers.
- (golf) The curve imparted to the ball's motion on the green due to slope or grass texture.
- An instance of breaking something into two or more pieces.
- (equitation) A sharp bit or snaffle.
- (billiards, snooker, pool) The first shot in a game of billiards.
- (music) The point in the musical scale at which a woodwind instrument is designed to overblow, that is, to move from its lower to its upper register.
noun
- An instance of fading away, of diminishing in proximity or intensity.
- (slang) The ending of a personal relationship by stopping any contact with the other party and not providing an explanation.
- (basketball) A jump shot made while jumping backwards, away from the basket, with the goal to create space between the shooter and the defender, making it much harder to block.
verb
- (transitive) To diminish or lessen something
- (transitive) To cut a rebate (or rabbet) in something
- To beat to obtuseness; to deprive of keenness; to blunt; to turn back the point of, as a lance used for exercise.
- To abate; to withdraw.
- (transitive) To deduct or return an amount from a bill or payment
- (intransitive, falconry) Of a falcon: to return to the hand after bating; see bate².
- join with a rebate
- give a reduction in the price during a sale
- cut a rebate in (timber or stone)
noun
- A piece of wood hafted into a long stick, and serving to beat out mortar.
- The return of part of an amount already paid.
- A kind of hard freestone used in making pavements.
- An iron tool sharpened something like a chisel, and used for dressing and polishing wood.
- A rectangular groove made to hold two pieces (of wood etc) together; a rabbet.
- (photography) The edge of a roll of film, from which no image can be developed.
- A deduction from an amount that is paid; an abatement.
- a refund of some fraction of the amount paid
- a rectangular groove made to hold two pieces together
noun
- Continuous decrease of a quantity.
- (physics) Radioactive decay; decomposition of an atom or its nucleus.
- (programming) Array decay.
- Deterioration of condition; loss of status, quality, strength, or fortune.
- (biology) Rot; any processes or result of organic matter being gradually decomposed, especially by microbial action.
- (physics) Particle decay; decomposition of a sub-atomic particle.
- the spontaneous disintegration of a radioactive substance along with the emission of ionizing radiation
- the organic phenomenon of rotting
- a gradual decrease; as of stored charge or current
- the process of gradually becoming inferior
- an inferior state resulting from the process of decaying
verb
- (transitive) To cause to rot or deteriorate.
- (intransitive, electronics, of storage media or the data on them) To undergo bit rot, that is, gradual degradation.
- (intransitive, computing, of software) To undergo software rot, that is, to fail to be updated in a changing environment, so as to eventually become legacy or obsolete.
- (intransitive, aviation) Loss of airspeed due to drag.
- (intransitive, transitive, physics, of a quantum system) To undergo optical decay, that is, to relax to a less excited state, usually by emitting a photon or phonon.
- (intransitive) To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.
- (intransitive, of organic material) To rot, to go bad.
- (programming, intransitive) Of an array: to lose its type and dimensions and be reduced to a pointer, for example when passed to a function.
- (intransitive, physics, of a satellite's orbit) To undergo prolonged reduction in altitude (above the orbited body).
- (intransitive, transitive, physics, chemistry, of an unstable atom) To change by undergoing fission, by emitting radiation, or by capturing or losing one or more electrons; to undergo radioactive decay.
- fall into decay or ruin
- lose a stored charge, magnetic flux, or current
- undergo decay or decomposition
verb
- fall or diminish
- change from a waking to a sleeping state
- remove (cargo, people, etc.) from and leave
- fall to a lower standard
- retreat
- (idiomatic, transitive, especially US) To deliver; to deposit or leave; to allow passengers to alight.
- (intransitive, also figuratively) To drop, fall.
- (transitive, also figuratively) To drop from, fall from.
- (slang) To abandon or give up on (something); to be abandoned or given up on.
- (intransitive, figurative) To end a connection with a telephone queue, either by hanging up or after being served or processed.
- (idiomatic, intransitive) To fall asleep.
- (intransitive) To lessen or reduce.
verb
- To decrease in force or intensity; to subside.
- To lower (something) in price or value.
- To lessen (something) in force or intensity; to moderate.
- (chiefly US) To dismiss or otherwise bring to an end (legal proceedings) before they are completed, especially on procedural grounds rather than on the merits.
- To decrease in amount or size.
- (chiefly US) Of legal proceedings: to be dismissed or otherwise brought to an end before they are completed, especially on procedural grounds rather than on the merits.
- To reduce (something) in amount or size.
- To lower in price or value; (law) specifically, of a bequest in a will: to lower in value because the testator's estate is insufficient to satisfy all the bequests in full.
- (chiefly historical) Of a writ or other legal document: to become null and void; to cease to have effect.
- To make (a writ or other legal document) void; to nullify.
- To cut away or hammer down (material from metalwork, a sculpture, etc.) in such a way as to leave a figure in relief.
- To put an end to (a nuisance).
- become less in amount or intensity
- make less active or intense
noun
- (figurative, uncommon) A moment or period where something is weakened, diminished or less effective.
- (electricity) A period of low alternating current line voltage, causing a reduction in illumination.
- (Philippines, Australia, Hong Kong) A blackout, regardless of time of day.
- A temporary dimming of vision, usually with a brown hue and accompanied by loss of peripheral vision or tunnel vision.
- A power outage during the day; distinguished from a blackout, which occurs at night.
- (firefighting) A temporary closing of a fire station, usually due to budget restrictions.
- darkness resulting from the extinction of lights (as in a city invisible to enemy aircraft)
noun
- An amount by which a quantity decreases or is decreased.
- the amount by which something decreases
- the act of decreasing or reducing something
- (knitting, crochet) A reduction in the number of stitches, usually accomplished by suspending the stitch to be decreased from another existing stitch or by knitting it together with another stitch. See Decrease (knitting).
- a process of becoming smaller or shorter
- a change downward
verb
noun
- A lessening, decrease or reduction.
- the act of decreasing or reducing something
- (music) a compositional technique where the composer shortens the melody by shortening its note values.
- The act or process of making diminutive.
- the statement of a theme in notes of lesser duration (usually half the length of the original)
- change toward something smaller or lower
noun
verb
noun
- the act of decreasing something markedly
- the state of being depleted
- The act of depleting, or the state of being depleted; exhaustion.
- (accounting, mining, timber industry, oil industry) gradual expense or use of natural resources over time.
- The consumption of a resource faster than it can be replenished.
noun
- the act of decreasing or reducing something
- the act of reducing complexity
- any process in which electrons are added to an atom or ion (as by removing oxygen or adding hydrogen); always occurs accompanied by oxidation of the reducing agent
- The act, process, or result of reducing.
- (philosophy, phenomenology) A philosophical procedure intended to reveal the objects of consciousness as pure phenomena. (See phenomenological reduction.)
- (computing theory) A transformation of one problem into another problem, such as mapping reduction or polynomial-time reduction.
- (cooking) The process of rapidly boiling a sauce to concentrate it.
- (mathematics) The rewriting of an expression into a simpler form.
- (historical, Roman Catholicism) A religious settlement created during a mission by Spanish or Portuguese colonists with the intent of evangelizing Christianity to the local population.
- (music) An arrangement for a far smaller number of parties, e.g. a keyboard solo based on a full opera.
- (medicine) A medical procedure to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment, usually with a closed approach but sometimes with an open approach (surgery).
- (paying) A reduced price of something by a fraction or decimal.
- The amount or rate by which something is reduced, e.g. in price.
- (chemistry) A reaction in which electrons are gained and valence is reduced; often by the removal of oxygen or the addition of hydrogen.
- (metalworking) The ratio of a material's change in thickness compared to its thickness prior to forging and/or rolling.
noun
- the action of lessening in severity or intensity
- to act in such a way as to cause an offense to seem less serious
- a partial excuse to mitigate censure; an attempt to represent an offense as less serious than it appears by showing mitigating circumstances
- A reduction or decrease of something harmful or unpleasant.
noun
- the action of lessening in severity or intensity
- quality of being moderate and avoiding extremes
- the trait of avoiding excesses
- a change for the better
- An instance of moderating: bringing something away from extremes, especially in a beneficial way
- The process of moderating a discussion
- Usage of neutron moderator to slow down neutrons in a nuclear reactor.
- The state or quality of being moderate; avoidance of extremes
noun
- A decrease; especially, a sudden one.
- A time during which passengers, such as school children, are dropped off; the event or act of dropping them off.
- A delivery; the act of leaving a package, etc.
- The precipitous outer side of a coral reef, facing the open sea.
- (Internet) A visitor to a website who ceases to continue using and navigating around the site after reaching some specified page; or such an act of cessation.
- A sudden downward slope or cliff.
- (especially US) A space reserved outside a bus or railway station for vehicles stopping to drop off passengers for onward transit.
- a steep high face of rock
- a noticeable deterioration in performance or quality
- a change downward
verb
- (transitive) To cause to decrease or diminish.
- (intransitive) To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
- (by extension) To run through from first to last; to recite in order as though declining a noun.
- (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.
- (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.
- (transitive) To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
- (intransitive) To become weaker or worse.
- To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.
- (transitive, grammar) To recite all the different declined forms of (a word): to recite its declension.
- go down
- not accept as true
- show unwillingness towards
- inflect for number, gender, case, etc.
- grow smaller
- fall in value
- grow worse
noun
- A reduction or diminution of activity, prevalence or quantity.
- Downward movement, fall.
- A deterioration of condition; a weakening or worsening.
- A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.
- The act of declining or refusing something.
- a condition inferior to an earlier condition; a gradual falling off from a better state; decline
- change toward something smaller or lower
- a gradual decrease; as of stored charge or current
- a downward slope or bend
noun
- the act of decreasing (something) in size or volume or quantity or scope
- the process or result of becoming smaller or pressed together
- a word formed from two or more words by omitting or combining some sounds
- (physiology) a shortening or tensing of a part or organ (especially of a muscle or muscle fiber)
- An act of incurring debt; also (generally), an act of acquiring something (generally negative).
- (linguistics) A process whereby one or more sounds of a free morpheme (a word) are reduced or lost, such that it becomes a bound morpheme (a clitic) that attaches phonologically to an adjacent word.
- (ring theory, of an ideal in the codomain of a ring homomorphism) The preimage of the given ideal under the given homomorphism.
- (biology, medicine) The process of contracting or becoming infected with a disease.
- (orthography) In the English language: a shortened form of a word, often with omitted letters replaced by an apostrophe or a diacritical mark.
- (biology, medicine) A stage of wound healing during which the wound edges are gradually pulled together.
- (linguistics, phonology, prosody) Synonym of syncope (“the elision or loss of a sound from the interior of a word, especially of a vowel sound with loss of a syllable”).
- (biology, medicine) A shortening of a muscle during its use; specifically, a strong and often painful shortening of the uterine muscles prior to or during childbirth.
- (economics) A period of economic decline or negative growth.
- (by extension) A shorthand symbol indicating an omission for the purpose of brevity.
noun
- A drop to a lower status or condition; decline.
- A way down.
- A falling upon or invasion.
- (topology) A particular extension of the idea of gluing.
- An instance of descending; act of coming down.
- Lineage or hereditary derivation.
- A sloping passage or incline.
- the act of changing your location in a downward direction
- the hereditary derivation of an individual
- a movement downward
- the kinship relation between an individual and the individual's progenitors
- properties attributable to your ancestry
- a downward slope or bend
noun
- process or result of becoming less or smaller
- the act of stealing goods that are on display in a store
- the amount by which something shrinks
- (slang) The reduction in size of the male genitalia when cold, such as from immersion in cold water.
- The loss of merchandise through theft, spoilage, and obsolescence: the shrinking of inventory.
- The act of shrinking, or the proportion by which something shrinks.
noun
- a sudden sharp decrease in some quantity
- a candle that is made by repeated dipping in a pool of wax or tallow
- a brief immersion
- a brief swim in water
- tasty mixture or liquid into which bite-sized foods are dipped
- a thief who steals from the pockets or purses of others in public places
- a gymnastic exercise on the parallel bars in which the body is lowered and raised by bending and straightening the arms
- a depression in an otherwise level surface
- (physics) the angle that a magnetic needle makes with the plane of the horizon
- (informal) A foolish person.
- (turpentine industry) The viscid exudation that is dipped out from incisions in the trees. Virgin dip is the runnings of the first year, yellow dip the runnings of subsequent years.
- A sauce for dipping.
- (geology) The angle from horizontal of a planar geologic surface, such as a fault line.
- A lower section of a road or geological feature.
- The action of dipping or plunging for a moment into a liquid.
- A tank or trough where cattle or sheep are immersed in chemicals to kill parasites.
- (bodybuilding) A gymnastic or bodybuilding exercise on parallel bars in which the performer, resting on his hands, lets his arms bend and his body sink until his chin is level with the bars, and then raises himself by straightening his arms.
- (computer graphics) Initialism of device-independent pixel.
- (finance, informal) A financial asset in decline, seen as an investment opportunity.
- (uncountable) Finely ground tobacco, consumed by placing a small amount between the lip and gum.
- (aeronautics) A sudden drop followed by a climb, usually to avoid obstacles or as the result of getting into an airhole.
- A swim, usually a short swim to refresh.
- A dip stick.
- (ABDL, informal, uncommon) A diaper; diap, dipe.
- (informal) A diplomat.
- Inclination downward; direction below a horizontal line; slope; pitch.
- (dance) A move in many different styles of partner dances, often performed at the end of a dance, in which the follower leans far to the side and is supported by the leader.
- (birdwatching, colloquial) The act of missing out on seeing a sought after bird.
- (UK, dialect, uncountable, Birmingham) Fried bread.
verb
- dip into a liquid
- immerse in a disinfectant solution
- dip into a liquid while eating
- place (candle wicks) into hot, liquid wax
- stain an object by immersing it in a liquid
- slope downwards
- immerse briefly into a liquid so as to wet, coat, or saturate
- appear to move downward
- lower briefly
- take a small amount from
- plunge (one's hand or a receptacle) into a container
- scoop up by plunging one's hand or a ladle below the surface
- switch (a car's headlights) from a higher to a lower beam
- go down momentarily
- (intransitive) (of a value or rate) To decrease slightly.
- (transitive) To treat cattle or sheep by immersion in chemical solution.
- (transitive) To perform (a bow or curtsey) by inclining the body.
- (transitive) To lower into a liquid.
- (intransitive) To perform the action of plunging a dipper, ladle. etc. into a liquid or soft substance and removing a part.
- (transitive) To use a dip stick to check oil level in an engine.
- (transitive) To lower a light's beam.
- (birdwatching, colloquial) To miss out on seeing a sought after bird.
- (transitive) To briefly lower the body by bending the knees while keeping the body in an upright position, usually in rhythm, as when singing or dancing.
- (transitive) To lower (a flag), particularly a national ensign, to a partially hoisted position in order to render or to return a salute. While lowered, the flag is said to be “at the dip.” A flag being carried on a staff may be dipped by leaning it forward at an approximate angle of 45 degrees.
- (intransitive, colloquial) To leave; to quit or abandon.
- (transitive) To take out, by dipping a dipper, ladle, or other receptacle, into a fluid and removing a part; often with out.
- (intransitive) To incline downward from the plane of the horizon.
- To consume snuff by placing a pinch behind the lip or under the tongue so that the active chemical constituents of the snuff may be absorbed into the system for their narcotic effect.
- (transitive) To wet, as if by immersing; to moisten.
- (transitive) To immerse for baptism.
- (intransitive) To plunge or engage thoroughly in any affair.
- (intransitive) To immerse oneself; to become plunged in a liquid; to sink.
- (transitive) To engage as a pledge; to mortgage.
- (transitive, dance) To perform a dip dance move (often phrased with the leader as the subject noun and the follower as the subject noun being dipped)
- (intransitive) To sink, drop, or slope downwards.
noun
- a sudden sharp decrease in some quantity
- a shape that is spherical and small
- a central depository where things can be left or picked up
- a steep high face of rock
- a free and rapid descent by the force of gravity
- a predetermined hiding place for the deposit and distribution of illicit goods (such as drugs or stolen property)
- the act of dropping something
- a curtain that can be lowered and raised onto a stage from the flies; often used as background scenery
- a small indefinite quantity (especially of a liquid)
- Of women's clothes: the difference between the bust circumference and hip circumference.
- (online gaming, video games) An item made available for the player to pick up from the remains of a defeated enemy.
- (pinball) Ellipsis of drop target.
- (rugby) Ellipsis of drop kick.
- (pharmacology, chiefly in the plural) A liquid medicine that is intended to be administered in drops (sense 1).
- (agriculture) A fruit which has fallen off a tree, etc., or has been knocked off accidentally, rather than picked.
- (informal) Only used in get the drop on, have the drop on: an advantage.
- A decline in degree, quality, quantity, or rate.
- (nautical) The depth of a (square) sail (generally applied to the courses only); the vertical dimension of a sail.
- (electrics, telecommunications) An overhead electrical line running from a utility pole to a customer's building or other premises.
- (American football) A dropped pass.
- Usually preceded by the: relegation from one division to a lower one.
- (law enforcement) The distance that a person drops when being executed by hanging.
- Often preceded by a defining word: a small, round piece of hard candy, such as a lemon drop; a lozenge.
- (theater) A curtain which falls in front of a theatrical stage; also, a section of (cloth) scenery lowered on to the stage like a curtain.
- (slang, US) An automobile with a drop-top roof, a convertible.
- Licorice in confectionery form.
- Ellipsis of drop hammer or drop press.
- The distance below a cliff or other high position through which someone or something could fall; hence, a steep slope.
- (also figuratively) A small quantity of liquid, just large enough to hold its own rounded shape through surface tension, especially one that falls from a source of liquid.
- (law enforcement, informal) Preceded by the: execution by hanging.
- (music) A point in a song, usually electronic music such as dubstep, house, trance, or trap, where there is a very noticeable and pleasing change in bass, tempo, and/or overall tone; a climax, a highlight.
- A release (of music, a video game, etc).
- (Ireland, informal) A single measure of whisky.
- Of men's clothes: the difference between the chest circumference and waist circumference.
- (figuratively) A very small quantity of liquid, or (by extension) of anything.
- (law enforcement) A trapdoor (“hinged platform”) on a gallows; a gallows itself.
- An act of moving downwards under the force of gravity; a descent, a fall.
- The vertical length of a hanging curtain.
- A mechanism for lowering something, such as a machine for lowering heavy weights on to a ship's deck, or a device for temporarily lowering a gas jet, etc.
- (pharmacology) A dose of liquid medicine in the form of a drop (sense 1).
- (engineering) The distance of the axis of a shaft below the base of a hanger.
- (surfing) A near vertical decent down the face of a breaking wave.
- (cricket) A place (specified by an ordinal) in the batting order after the openers.
- (architecture) An ornament resembling a pendant; a gutta.
- (American football) Ellipsis of drop-back.
- (gambling) The amount of money that a gambler exchanges for chips in a casino.
- (chiefly British) Usually preceded by the: alcoholic spirits in general.
- (golf) Ellipsis of drop shot.
- The cover mounted on a swivel over a keyhole that rests over the keyhole when not in use to keep out debris, but is swiveled out of the way before inserting the key.
- (chiefly Australia, British) A small amount of an alcoholic beverage.
- A place where items or supplies may be left for others to collect, whether openly (as with a mail drop), or secretly or illegally (as in crime or espionage); a drop-off point.
- An instance of making a delivery of people, supplies, or things, especially by parachute out of an aircraft (an airdrop), but also by truck, etc.
verb
- pay out
- utter with seeming casualness
- take (a drug, especially LSD), by mouth
- change from one level to another
- remove (cargo, people, etc.) from and leave
- lower the pitch of (musical notes)
- fall or descend to a lower place or level
- stop pursuing or acting
- to fall vertically
- let fall to the ground
- cause to fall by or as if by delivering a blow
- fall or sink into a state of exhaustion or death
- grow progressively worse
- stop associating with
- leave undone or leave out
- let or cause to fall in drops
- to remove
- go down in value
- lose (a game)
- omit (a letter or syllable) in speaking or writing
- give birth; used for animals
- hang loosely
- terminate an association with
- (cooking) To cook (food, especially fast food), particularly by lowering into hot oil to deep-fry, or by grilling.
- (transitive, music) To tune (a guitar string, etc.) to a lower note.
- (intransitive) Of a liquid: to fall in drops or droplets.
- (transitive) To cease concerning oneself over (someone or something); to have nothing more to do with (a discussion, subject, etc.).
- (intransitive, computing) To enter a more basic interface.
- (transitive) To make (someone or something) fall to the ground from a blow, gunshot, etc.; to bring down, to shoot down; to kill.
- (intransitive, physiology, informal) Of the testicles: to hang further away from the body and begin producing sperm due to puberty.
- (transitive) To reduce; to make smaller.
- Especially in drop acid: to swallow (a drug, particularly LSD).
- (intransitive) Of a voice: to lower in timbre, often due to puberty.
- (transitive, computing, music, television, colloquial) To release (a programme, software, a music album or song, etc.) to the public.
- (intransitive) To decrease, diminish, or lessen in condition, degree, value, etc.
- (intransitive, computing, music, television, colloquial) Of a programme, software, a music album or song, etc.: to enter public distribution.
- (transitive) To drip (a liquid) in drops or small amounts.
- (originally US) To (unexpectedly) lose (a competition, game, etc.).
- To lose, spend, or otherwise part with (money).
- (intransitive, also figuratively) To fall (straight down) under the influence of gravity, like a drop of liquid.
- (intransitive) To come to an end (by not being kept up); to lapse, to stop.
- (intransitive) To fall into a particular condition or state.
- (intransitive, online gaming, video games) Of an item: To appear for the player to pick up, usually after an enemy has been defeated.
- To impart (something).
- (intransitive) Usually followed by by, in, or into: of a person: to visit someone or somewhere informally or without a prior appointment.
- (intransitive) To fall or sink quickly or suddenly to the ground.
- (rugby) To score (a goal) by means of a drop kick.
- (transitive) To cancel or cease to participate in (a scheduled course, event, or project).
- To perform (rap music).
- (transitive) To mention (something) casually or incidentally, usually in conversation.
- (transitive) To set down (someone or something) from a vehicle; to stop and deliver or deposit (someone or something); to drop off.
- (transitive) To lower (a sound, a voice, etc.) in pitch or volume.
- (transitive, computing) To present (the user) with a more basic interface.
- (transitive) To cease to include (something), as if on a list; to dismiss, to eject, to expel.
- To quickly lower or take down (one's trousers), especially in public.
- (cricket) Of a fielder: to fail to dismiss (a batsman) by accidentally dropping a batted ball that had initially been caught.
- (transitive, linguistics) To fail to write, or (especially) to pronounce (a syllable, letter, etc.).
- To pass or use (counterfeit cheques, money, etc.).
- (intransitive) To collapse in exhaustion or injury; also, to fall dead, or to fall in death.
- (transitive, ergative, also figuratively) To let (something) fall; to allow (something) to fall (either by releasing hold of, or losing one's grip on).
- (transitive) To move to a lower position; to allow to hang downwards; to lower.
- (intransitive) Of a song or sound: to lower in key, pitch, tempo, or other quality.
- (transitive, online gaming, video games) Of a defeated enemy or container: To leave behind an item that the player can collect.
- To play (a portion of music) in the manner of a disc jockey.
- (intransitive, gambling) To drop out of the betting.
- (transitive) Of an animal (usually a sheep): to give birth to (young); of a bird: to lay (an egg).
- (transitive) To let (a letter, etc.) fall into a postbox; hence, to send (a letter, email, or other message) in an offhand manner.
- (transitive) To dispose or get rid of (something); to lose, to remove.
- (US, Singapore, ergative, military, slang) To make someone, or be made to do push-ups or some other form of exercise on the ground as punishment.
- (intransitive) To fall behind or to the rear of a group of people, etc., as a result of not keeping up with those at the front.
noun
- a sudden sharp decrease in some quantity
- a sudden drop from an upright position
- a sudden decline in strength or number or importance
- a free and rapid descent by the force of gravity
- the act of surrendering (usually under agreed conditions)
- when a wrestler's shoulders are forced to the mat
- the season when the leaves fall from the trees
- a movement downward
- a lapse into sin; a loss of innocence or of chastity
- the time of day immediately following sunset
- a downward slope or bend
- (nautical) The chasing of a hunted whale.
- A hairpiece for women consisting of long strands of hair on a woven backing, intended primarily to cover hair loss.
- That which falls or cascades.
- The lid, on a piano, that covers the keyboard.
- (cricket, of a wicket) The action of a batsman being out.
- A loss of greatness or status.
- An old Scots unit of measure equal to six ells.
- The act of moving to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
- A reduction in quantity, pitch, etc.
- (wrestling) An instance of a wrestler being pinned to the mat.
- (nautical) The part of the rope of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting (usu. plural).
- A short, flexible piece of leather forming part of a bullwhip, placed between the thong and the cracker.
- The height of that which falls or cascades.
- (informal, US) Blame or punishment for a failure or misdeed.
- (curling) A defect in the ice which causes stones thrown into an area to drift in a given direction.
verb
- drop oneself to a lower or less erect position
- move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
- assume a disappointed or sad expression
- slope downward
- pass suddenly and passively into a state of body or mind
- lose one's chastity
- yield to temptation or sin
- decrease in size, extent, or range
- lose an upright position suddenly
- move in a specified direction
- begin vigorously
- die, as in battle or in a hunt
- fall to somebody by assignment or lot; passed
- be due
- be inherited by
- come out; issue
- occur at a specified time or place
- be born, used chiefly of lambs
- lose office or power
- touch or seem as if touching visually or audibly
- come under, be classified or included
- come into the possession of
- fall or flow in a certain way
- come as if by falling
- descend in free fall under the influence of gravity
- fall from clouds
- be captured
- to be given by assignment or distribution
- be cast down
- to be given by right or inheritance
- suffer defeat, failure, or ruin
- go as if by falling
- To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
- (intransitive) To collapse; to be overthrown or defeated.
- (intransitive) To become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc.).
- To come down, to drop or descend.
- (copulative, in idiomatic expressions) To become (chiefly used with negative states).
- (intransitive) To descend in character or reputation; to become degraded; to sink into vice, error, or sin.
- To occur (on a certain day of the week, date, or similar); to happen.
- To come as if by dropping down.
- To come to the ground deliberately, to prostrate oneself.
- (intransitive) To be dropped or uttered carelessly.
- (intransitive) To happen; to come to pass; to chance or light (upon).
- (intransitive) To become ensnared or entrapped; to be worse off than before.
- (intransitive) To begin with haste, ardour, or vehemence; to rush or hurry.
- (intransitive) To be allotted to; to arrive through chance, fate, or inheritance.
- (intransitive, formal, euphemistic) To die, especially in battle or by disease.
- (intransitive) To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or appear dejected; said of the face.
- To be brought to the ground.
- (intransitive, of a fabric) To hang down (under the influence of gravity).
- (intransitive, slang, African-American Vernacular) To visit; to go to a place.
intj
noun
- An instance of fading away, of diminishing in proximity or intensity.
- (slang) The ending of a personal relationship by stopping any contact with the other party and not providing an explanation.
- (basketball) A jump shot made while jumping backwards, away from the basket, with the goal to create space between the shooter and the defender, making it much harder to block.
noun
- Continuous decrease of a quantity.
- (physics) Radioactive decay; decomposition of an atom or its nucleus.
- (programming) Array decay.
- Deterioration of condition; loss of status, quality, strength, or fortune.
- (biology) Rot; any processes or result of organic matter being gradually decomposed, especially by microbial action.
- (physics) Particle decay; decomposition of a sub-atomic particle.
- the spontaneous disintegration of a radioactive substance along with the emission of ionizing radiation
- the organic phenomenon of rotting
- a gradual decrease; as of stored charge or current
- the process of gradually becoming inferior
- an inferior state resulting from the process of decaying
verb
- (transitive) To cause to rot or deteriorate.
- (intransitive, electronics, of storage media or the data on them) To undergo bit rot, that is, gradual degradation.
- (intransitive, computing, of software) To undergo software rot, that is, to fail to be updated in a changing environment, so as to eventually become legacy or obsolete.
- (intransitive, aviation) Loss of airspeed due to drag.
- (intransitive, transitive, physics, of a quantum system) To undergo optical decay, that is, to relax to a less excited state, usually by emitting a photon or phonon.
- (intransitive) To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.
- (intransitive, of organic material) To rot, to go bad.
- (programming, intransitive) Of an array: to lose its type and dimensions and be reduced to a pointer, for example when passed to a function.
- (intransitive, physics, of a satellite's orbit) To undergo prolonged reduction in altitude (above the orbited body).
- (intransitive, transitive, physics, chemistry, of an unstable atom) To change by undergoing fission, by emitting radiation, or by capturing or losing one or more electrons; to undergo radioactive decay.
- fall into decay or ruin
- lose a stored charge, magnetic flux, or current
- undergo decay or decomposition
verb
- (transitive) To cause to decrease or diminish.
- (intransitive) To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
- (by extension) To run through from first to last; to recite in order as though declining a noun.
- (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.
- (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.
- (transitive) To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
- (intransitive) To become weaker or worse.
- To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.
- (transitive, grammar) To recite all the different declined forms of (a word): to recite its declension.
- go down
- not accept as true
- show unwillingness towards
- inflect for number, gender, case, etc.
- grow smaller
- fall in value
- grow worse
noun
- A reduction or diminution of activity, prevalence or quantity.
- Downward movement, fall.
- A deterioration of condition; a weakening or worsening.
- A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.
- The act of declining or refusing something.
- a condition inferior to an earlier condition; a gradual falling off from a better state; decline
- change toward something smaller or lower
- a gradual decrease; as of stored charge or current
- a downward slope or bend
verb
- (transitive) To rarefy.
- (transitive) To weaken.
- (brewing) (of a beer) To become less dense as a result of the conversion of sugar to alcohol.
- (transitive) To make thinner, as by physically reshaping, starving, or decaying.
- (intransitive) To become thin or fine; to grow less.
- (transitive, medicine) To reduce the virulence of a bacterium or virus.
- (transitive, electronics) To reduce the amplitude of an electrical, radio, or optical signal.
- (transitive) To reduce in size, force, value, amount, or degree.
- weaken the consistency of (a chemical substance)
- become weaker, in strength, value, or magnitude
adj
verb
- (intransitive) To gradually decrease and eventually cease.
- (intransitive) To stop talking because one has forgotten what one was going to say.
- (intransitive, ambitransitive) To manually dry dishes and utensils.
- (of an actor) To forget one's lines.
- (transitive) To cause to become dry.
- (1930s US slang) To stop talking or drop a topic.
- (intransitive) To become dry (often of weather); to lose water.
- (transitive) To deprive someone of (something vital).
- dry up and shrivel due to complete loss of moisture
- lose water or moisture
verb
adj
noun
- A slender wax candle.
- Someone who works with tape or tapes.
- (by extension) A small light.
- A thin stick used for lighting candles, either a wax-coated wick or a slow-burning wooden rod.
- The portion of an object with such a form.
- A tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness and/or cross section in an elongated object.
- (weaving) One who operates a tape machine.
- A cone-shaped item for stretching the hole for an ear gauge (piercing).
- (figurative) Gradual reduction over time.
- (machining) Ellipsis of machine taper.
- the property possessed by a shape that narrows toward a point (as a wedge or cone)
- a convex shape that narrows toward a point
- a loosely woven cord (in a candle or oil lamp) that draws fuel by capillary action up into the flame
- stick of wax with a wick in the middle
verb
- (figurative) To diminish in energy; to slow down or peter out; to be gradually canceled or ended.
- (figurative) To decline in resources or capability.
- (computing, intransitive, of a disk drive) To reduce its spinning speed from that required for reading and writing.
- (of a rotating body) To reduce its speed of rotation.
verb
adj
- Having a small penis, muscles, or other important body parts, regardless of overall body size.
- Not prolonged in duration; not extended in time; short.
- Humiliated or insignificant.
- (figuratively, not comparable) Young, as a child.
- (especially clothing, food or drink) That is small (the manufactured size).
- Synonym of little (“of an industry or institution(s) therein: operating on a small scale, unlike larger counterparts”).
- (writing, not comparable) Minuscule or lowercase, referring to written or printed letters.
- Evincing little worth or ability; not large-minded; paltry; mean.
- Not large or big; insignificant; few in number.
- (of a voice) faint
- limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
- (of children and animals) young, immature
- relatively moderate, limited, or small
- not large but sufficient in size or amount
- lowercase
- low or inferior in station or quality
- slight or limited; especially in degree or intensity or scope
- have fine or very small constituent particles
- made to seem smaller or less (especially in worth)
adv
noun
- (countable, especially clothing, food or drink) An item labelled or denoted as being that size.
- (countable, rare) Any part of something that is smaller or slimmer than the rest, now usually with anatomical reference to the back.
- (uncountable, especially clothing, food or drink) One of several common sizes to which an item may be manufactured, smaller than a medium.
- (countable, especially with respect to clothing) One who fits an item of that size.
- the slender part of the back
- a garment size for a small person
verb
- (intransitive) To become less lively; to diminish (by itself).
- (transitive) To render less lively; to diminish; to muffle.
- (transitive) To make soundproof.
- lessen the momentum or velocity of
- convert (metallic mercury) into a grey powder consisting of minute globules, as by shaking with chalk or fatty oil
- become lifeless, less lively, intense, or active; lose life, force, or vigor
- make vague or obscure or make (an image) less visible
- make less lively, intense, or vigorous; impair in vigor, force, activity, or sensation
- make vapid or deprive of spirit
- cut a girdle around so as to kill by interrupting the circulation of water and nutrients
verb
- (transitive, rare) To effect mincingly.
- (transitive) To lessen; to diminish; to diminish in speaking; to speak of lightly or slightingly; to minimise.
- (transitive) To make less; to make small.
- (intransitive) To walk with short steps; to walk in a prim, affected manner.
- (intransitive) To act or talk with affected nicety; to affect delicacy in manner.
- To say or utter vaguely (not directly or frankly).
- (transitive, cooking) To cut into very small pieces; to chop finely.
- (transitive) To affect; to pronounce affectedly or with an accent.
- walk daintily
- cut into small pieces
- make less severe or harsh
noun
- (countable, Cockney rhyming slang, chiefly in the plural) An eye (from mince pie).
- (countable) An affected (often dainty or short and precise) gait.
- (uncountable) Finely chopped mixed fruit used in Christmas pies; mincemeat.
- (countable) An affected manner, especially of speaking; an affectation.
- (UK, slang, uncountable) Something worthless; rubbish.
- (uncountable) Finely chopped meat; minced meat.
- food chopped into small bits
verb
- (intransitive) To progressively lose its splendor, value, ardor, power, intensity etc.; to decline.
- (intransitive, astronomy) For the Moon to pass through the phases of its monthly cycle where its surface is less and less visible.
- (intransitive) Said of a time period that comes to an end.
- (intransitive) For light to dim or diminish in strength.
- become smaller
- grow smaller
- decrease in phase
noun
- A gradual diminution in power, value, intensity etc.
- The lunar phase during which the sun seems to illuminate less of the moon as its sunlit area becomes progressively smaller as visible from Earth.
- (woodworking) A rounded corner caused by lack of wood, often showing bark.
- (Scotland, slang) A child.
- (literary) The end of a period.
- a gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number)
verb
- diminish or discontinue abruptly
- make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret
- find the solution or key to
- become punctured or penetrated
- become separated into pieces or fragments
- do a break dance
- enter someone's (virtual or real) property in an unauthorized manner, usually with the intent to steal or commit a violent act
- discontinue an association or relation; go different ways
- fall sharply
- separate from a clinch, in boxing
- cause to give up a habit
- weaken or destroy in spirit or body
- change directions suddenly
- exchange for smaller units of money
- undergo breaking
- give up
- interrupt a continued activity
- interrupt the flow of current in
- break a piece from a whole
- make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one's own by quitting or fleeing
- move away or escape suddenly
- invalidate by judicial action
- destroy the completeness of a set of related items
- cease an action temporarily
- happen or take place
- render inoperable or ineffective
- emerge from the surface of a body of water
- come to an end (of an event)
- cause the failure or ruin of
- put an end to a state or an activity
- fracture a bone of
- stop operating or functioning
- curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves
- terminate or end
- come forth or begin from a state of latency
- make submissive, obedient, or useful
- crack; of the male voice in puberty
- vary or interrupt a uniformity or continuity
- destroy the integrity of; usually by force; cause to separate into pieces or fragments
- come into being
- force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up
- find a flaw in
- ruin completely
- become fractured; break or crack on the surface only
- happen
- go to pieces
- break down, literally or metaphorically
- act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises
- pierce or penetrate
- surpass in excellence
- lessen in force or effect
- change suddenly from one tone quality or register to another
- make the opening shot that scatters the balls
- scatter or part
- be broken in
- assign to a lower position; reduce in rank
- reduce to bankruptcy
- be released or become known; of news
- fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns
- (transitive, tennis) To win a game (against one's opponent) as receiver.
- (intransitive, of a storm) To begin or end.
- (intransitive, sports) To counter-attack.
- (intransitive, of a spell of settled weather) To end.
- (intransitive) To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength.
- (transitive, ergative) To disclose or make known an item of news, a band, etc.
- (intransitive, of a male voice) To become deeper at puberty.
- (transitive, backgammon) To remove one of the two men on (a point).
- (transitive) To end (a connection); to disconnect.
- (intransitive, billiards, snooker, pool) To make the first shot; to scatter the balls from the initial neat arrangement.
- (intransitive) To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief.
- (intransitive, of a voice) To alter in type due to emotion or strain: in men, generally to go up, in women, sometimes to go down; to crack.
- (specifically) To cause the shell of (an egg) to crack, so that the inside (yolk) is accessible.
- (transitive, theater) To end the run of (a play).
- (transitive) To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss.
- (intransitive) To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change gait.
- (intransitive) To interrupt or cease one's work or occupation temporarily; to go on break.
- (transitive) To violate; to fail to adhere to.
- (specifically) To open (a safe) without using the correct key, combination, or the like.
- (transitive) To divide (something, often money) into smaller units.
- (transitive) To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate.
- (transitive) To cause (a barrier) to no longer bar.
- (intransitive, of morning, dawn, day etc.) To arrive.
- (transitive) To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of.
- (transitive, with for) To (attempt to) disengage and flee to; to make a run for.
- (rare, mainly historical or a misspelling) To brake.
- (copulative, informal) To suddenly become.
- (transitive) To interrupt (a fall) by inserting something so that the falling object does not (immediately) hit something else beneath.
- (transitive) To change a steady state abruptly.
- To turn an animal into a beast of burden.
- (music, slang) To B-boy; to breakdance.
- (specifically, in programming) To cause (some feature of a program or piece of software) to stop functioning properly; to cause a regression.
- (programming) To suspend the execution of a program during debugging so that the state of the program can be investigated.
- (transitive, intransitive) To crack or fracture (bone) under a physical strain.
- (intransitive) To burst forth; to make its way; to come into view.
- (ergative, transitive, intransitive) To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.
- (computing) To cause, or allow the occurrence of, a line break.
- (transitive) To ruin financially.
- (transitive, gaming slang) To render (a game) unchallenging by altering its rules or exploiting loopholes or weaknesses in them in a way that gives a player an unfair advantage.
- (finance, intransitive) Of prices on the stock exchange: to fall suddenly.
- (transitive, military, most often in the passive tense) To demote; to reduce the military rank of.
- (computing) To terminate the execution of a program before normal completion.
- (intransitive, of a fever) To go down, in terms of temperature, indicating that the most dangerous part of the illness has passed.
- (transitive, intransitive) To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether.
- (intransitive, of a sauce or emulsion) To de-emulsify.
- (transitive) To surpass or do better than (a specific number); to do better than (a record), setting a new record.
- (transitive) To cause (a person or animal) to lose spirit or will; to crush the spirits of.
- (intransitive, of a sound) To become audible suddenly.
- (intransitive, of a wave of water) To collapse into surf, after arriving in shallow water.
- (transitive) To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce.
noun
- an unexpected piece of good luck
- an abrupt change in the tone or register of the voice (as at puberty or due to emotion)
- the opening shot that scatters the balls in billiards or pool
- some abrupt occurrence that interrupts an ongoing activity
- a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something
- an escape from jail
- a personal or social separation (as between opposing factions)
- (tennis) a score consisting of winning a game when your opponent was serving
- a pause from doing something (as work)
- the act of breaking something
- any frame in which a bowler fails to make a strike or spare
- an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity
- the occurrence of breaking
- a sudden dash
- (geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other
- breaking of hard tissue such as bone
- (programming) Ellipsis of breakpoint.
- (music) The transition area between a singer's vocal registers; the passaggio.
- A rest or pause, usually from work.
- A physical space that opens up in something or between two things.
- An interruption of continuity; departure from or rupture with.
- Alternative form of brake (“cart or carriage without a body, for breaking in horses”)
- (computing) The separation between lines, paragraphs or pages of a written text.
- (soccer) The counter-attack.
- A short holiday.
- (snooker) The number of points scored by one player in one visit to the table.
- (finance) A sudden fall in prices on the stock exchange.
- A scheduled interval of days or weeks between periods of school instruction; a holiday.
- (computing) A keystroke or other signal that causes a program to terminate or suspend execution.
- (UK, education) A time for students to talk or play between lessons.
- (geography, chiefly in the plural) An area along a river that features steep banks, bluffs, or gorges (e.g., Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, US).
- A significant change in circumstance, attitude, perception, or focus of attention.
- (music) A section of extended repetition of the percussion break to a song, created by a hip-hop DJ as rhythmic dance music.
- (British, weather) A change, particularly the end of a spell of persistent good or bad weather.
- An interval or intermission between two parts of a performance, for example a theatre show, broadcast, or sports game.
- (surfing) A place where waves break (that is, where waves pitch or spill forward creating white water).
- An act of escaping.
- The beginning (of the morning).
- (music) A short section of music, often between verses, in which some performers stop while others continue.
- A temporary split with a romantic partner.
- (tennis) A game won by the receiving player(s).
- (horse racing) The start of a horse race.
- The opening of packages of cards for a collectible card game, often for further distribution to paying customers.
- (golf) The curve imparted to the ball's motion on the green due to slope or grass texture.
- An instance of breaking something into two or more pieces.
- (equitation) A sharp bit or snaffle.
- (billiards, snooker, pool) The first shot in a game of billiards.
- (music) The point in the musical scale at which a woodwind instrument is designed to overblow, that is, to move from its lower to its upper register.
verb
- (transitive) To diminish or lessen something
- (transitive) To cut a rebate (or rabbet) in something
- To beat to obtuseness; to deprive of keenness; to blunt; to turn back the point of, as a lance used for exercise.
- To abate; to withdraw.
- (transitive) To deduct or return an amount from a bill or payment
- (intransitive, falconry) Of a falcon: to return to the hand after bating; see bate².
- join with a rebate
- give a reduction in the price during a sale
- cut a rebate in (timber or stone)
noun
- A piece of wood hafted into a long stick, and serving to beat out mortar.
- The return of part of an amount already paid.
- A kind of hard freestone used in making pavements.
- An iron tool sharpened something like a chisel, and used for dressing and polishing wood.
- A rectangular groove made to hold two pieces (of wood etc) together; a rabbet.
- (photography) The edge of a roll of film, from which no image can be developed.
- A deduction from an amount that is paid; an abatement.
- a refund of some fraction of the amount paid
- a rectangular groove made to hold two pieces together
verb
- fall or diminish
- change from a waking to a sleeping state
- remove (cargo, people, etc.) from and leave
- fall to a lower standard
- retreat
- (idiomatic, transitive, especially US) To deliver; to deposit or leave; to allow passengers to alight.
- (intransitive, also figuratively) To drop, fall.
- (transitive, also figuratively) To drop from, fall from.
- (slang) To abandon or give up on (something); to be abandoned or given up on.
- (intransitive, figurative) To end a connection with a telephone queue, either by hanging up or after being served or processed.
- (idiomatic, intransitive) To fall asleep.
- (intransitive) To lessen or reduce.
verb
- To decrease in force or intensity; to subside.
- To lower (something) in price or value.
- To lessen (something) in force or intensity; to moderate.
- (chiefly US) To dismiss or otherwise bring to an end (legal proceedings) before they are completed, especially on procedural grounds rather than on the merits.
- To decrease in amount or size.
- (chiefly US) Of legal proceedings: to be dismissed or otherwise brought to an end before they are completed, especially on procedural grounds rather than on the merits.
- To reduce (something) in amount or size.
- To lower in price or value; (law) specifically, of a bequest in a will: to lower in value because the testator's estate is insufficient to satisfy all the bequests in full.
- (chiefly historical) Of a writ or other legal document: to become null and void; to cease to have effect.
- To make (a writ or other legal document) void; to nullify.
- To cut away or hammer down (material from metalwork, a sculpture, etc.) in such a way as to leave a figure in relief.
- To put an end to (a nuisance).
- become less in amount or intensity
- make less active or intense
adj
- characterized by or causing diminution or curtailment
- Causing the physical reduction or diminution of something.
- (chemistry, metallurgy, biology, economics) That reduces a substance etc. to a more simple or basic form.
- (now frequently derogatory) That reduces an argument, issue etc. to its most basic terms; simplistic, reductionist.