Decrease intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Decreased ; present participle & verbal noun Decreasing .] [ Middle English decrecen , from Old French decreistre , French décroître , or from the Old French noun (see Decrease , noun ), from Latin decrescere to grow less; de + crescere to grow. See Crescent , and confer Increase .] To grow less, -- opposed to increase ; to be diminished gradually, in size, degree, number, duration, etc., or in strength, quality, or excellence; as, they days decrease in length from June to December.

He must increase, but I must decrease .

John iii. 30.

Syn. -- To Decrease , Diminish . Things usually decrease or fall off by degrees, and from within, or through some cause which is imperceptible; as, the flood decreases ; the cold decreases ; their affection has decreased . Things commonly diminish by an influence from without, or one which is apparent; as, the army was diminished by disease; his property is diminishing through extravagance; their affection has diminished since their separation their separation. The turn of thought, however, is often such that these words may be interchanged.

The olive leaf, which certainly them told
The flood decreased .

Drayton.

Crete's ample fields diminish to our eye;
Before the Boreal blasts the vessels fly.

Pope.

Decrease transitive verb To cause to grow less; to diminish gradually; as, extravagance decreases one's means.

That might decrease their present store.

Prior.

Decrease noun [ Middle English decrees , Old French decreis , from decreistre . See Decrease , v. ]
1. A becoming less; gradual diminution; decay; as, a decrease of revenue or of strength.

2. The wane of the moon. Bacon.

Decreaseless adjective Suffering no decrease. [ R.]

It [ the river] flows and flows, and yet will flow,
Volume decreaseless to the final hour.

A. Seward.

Decreasing adjective Becoming less and less; diminishing. -- De*creas"ing*ly , adverb

Decreasing series (Math.) , a series in which each term is numerically smaller than the preceding term.

Decreation noun Destruction; -- opposed to creation . [ R.] Cudworth.

Decree noun [ Middle English decre , French décret , from Latin decretum , neut. decretus , past participle of decernere to decide; de- + cernere to decide. See Certain , and confer Decreet , Decretal .]
1. An order from one having authority, deciding what is to be done by a subordinate; also, a determination by one having power, deciding what is to be done or to take place; edict, law; authoritative ru...... decision. "The decrees of Venice." Sh..........

There went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

Luke ii. 1.

Poor hand, why quiverest thou at this decree ?

Shak.

2. (Law) (a) A decision, order, or sentence, given in a cause by a court of equity or admiralty. (b) A determination or judgment of an umpire on a case submitted to him. Brande.

3. (Eccl.) An edict or law made by a council for regulating any business within their jurisdiction; as, the decrees of ecclesiastical councils.

Syn. -- Law; regulation; edict; ordinance. See Law .

Decree transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Decreed ; present participle & verbal noun Decreeing .]
1. To determine judicially by authority, or by decree; to constitute by edict; to appoint by decree or law; to determine; to order; to ordain; as, a court decrees a restoration of property.

Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee.

Job xxii. 28.

2. To ordain by fate.

Decree intransitive verb To make decrees; - - used absolutely.

Father eternal! thine is to decree ;
Mine, both in heaven and earth to do thy will.

Milton.

Decreeable adjective Capable of being decreed.

Decreer noun One who decrees. J. Goodwin.

Decreet noun [ Confer Decree .] (Scots Law) The final judgment of the Court of Session, or of an inferior court, by which the question at issue is decided.

Decrement noun [ Latin decrementum , from decrescere . See Decrease .]
1. The state of becoming gradually less; decrease; diminution; waste; loss.

Twit me with the decrements of my pendants.

Ford.

Rocks, mountains, and the other elevations of the earth suffer a continual decrement .

Woodward.

2. The quantity lost by gradual diminution or waste; -- opposed to increment .

3. (Crystallog.) A name given by Haüy to the successive diminution of the layers of molecules, applied to the faces of the primitive form, by which he supposed the secondary forms to be produced.

4. (Math.) The quantity by which a variable is diminished.

Equal decrement of life . (a) The decrease of life in a group of persons in which the assumed law of mortality is such that of a given large number of persons, all being now of the same age, an equal number shall die each consecutive year. (b) The decrease of life in a group of persons in which the assumed law of mortality is such that the ratio of those dying in a year to those living through the year is constant, being independent of the age of the persons.

Decrepit adjective [ Latin decrepitus , perhaps orig., noised out, noiseless, applied to old people, who creep about quietly; de- + crepare to make a noise, rattle: confer French décrépit . See Crepitate .] Broken down with age; wasted and enfeebled by the infirmities of old age; feeble; worn out. "Beggary or decrepit age." Milton.

Already decrepit with premature old age.

Motley.

» Sometimes incorrectly written decrepid .

Decrepitate transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Decrepitated ; present participle & verbal noun Decrepitating .] [ Confer French décrépiter .] To roast or calcine so as to cause a crackling noise; as, to decrepitate salt.

Decrepitate intransitive verb To crackle, as salt in roasting.

Decrepitation noun [ Confer French décrépitation .] The act of decrepitating; a crackling noise, such as salt makes when roasting.

Decrepitness noun Decrepitude. [ R.] Barrow.

Decrepitude noun [ Confer French décrépitude .] The broken state produced by decay and the infirmities of age; infirm old age.

Decrescendo adjective & adverb [ Italian ] (Mus.) With decreasing volume of sound; -- a direction to performers, either written upon the staff (abbreviated Dec ., or Decresc .), or indicated by the sign.

Decrescent adjective [ Latin decrescens , present participle of decrescere . See Decrease .] Becoming less by gradual diminution; decreasing; as, a decrescent moon.

Decrescent noun (Her.) A crescent with the horns directed towards the sinister. Cussans.

Decretal adjective [ Latin decretalis , from decretum . See Decree .] Appertaining to a decree; containing a decree; as, a decretal epistle. Ayliffe.

Decretal noun [ Late Latin decretale , neut. of Latin decretalis . See Decretal , adjective ]
1. (R. C. Ch.) An authoritative order or decree; especially, a letter of the pope, determining some point or question in ecclesiastical law. The decretals form the second part of the canon law.

2. (Canon Law) The collection of ecclesiastical decrees and decisions made, by order of Gregory IX., in 1234, by St. Raymond of Pennafort.

Decrete noun [ Latin decretum . See Decree .] A decree. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Decretion noun [ From Latin decrescere , decretum . See Decrease .] A decrease. [ Obsolete] Pearson.

Decretist noun [ Late Latin decretista , from decretum : confer French décrétiste . See Decree , noun ] One who studies, or professes the knowledge of, the decretals.

Decretive adjective [ From Latin decretum . See Decree , noun ] Having the force of a decree; determining.

The will of God is either decretive or perceptive.

Bates.

Decretorial adjective Decretory; authoritative. Sir T. Browne.

Decretorily adverb In a decretory or definitive manner; by decree.

Decretory adjective [ Latin decretorius , from decretum . See Decree .]
1. Established by a decree; definitive; settled.

The decretory rigors of a condemning sentence.

South.

2. Serving to determine; critical. "The critical or decretory days." Sir T. Browne.

Decrew intransitive verb [ French décrue , noun , decrease, and décru , past participle of décroître . See Decrease , and confer Accrue .] To decrease. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Decrial noun [ See Decry .] A crying down; a clamorous censure; condemnation by censure.

Decrier noun One who decries.

Decrown transitive verb To deprive of a crown; to discrown. [ R.] Hakewill.

Decrustation noun [ Confer Old French décrustation .] The removal of a crust.

Decry transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Decried ; present participle & verbal noun Decrying .] [ French décrier , Old French descrier ; prefix des- (L. dis- ) + crier to cry. See Cry , and confer Descry .] To cry down; to censure as faulty, mean, or worthless; to clamor against; to blame clamorously; to discredit; to disparage.

For small errors they whole plays decry .

Dryden.

Measures which are extolled by one half of the kingdom are naturally decried by the other.

Addison.

Syn. -- To Decry , Depreciate , Detract , Disparage . Decry and depreciate refer to the estimation of a thing, the former seeking to lower its value by clamorous censure, the latter by representing it as of little worth. Detract and disparage also refer to merit or value, which the former assails with caviling, insinuation, etc., while the latter willfully underrates and seeks to degrade it. Men decry their rivals and depreciate their measures. The envious detract from the merit of a good action, and disparage the motives of him who performs it.

Decubation noun [ From Latin decubare ; de- + cubare . See Decumbent .] Act of lying down; decumbence. [ Obsolete] Evelyn.

Decubitus noun [ New Latin , from Latin de- + cubare , to lie down: confer French décubitus .] (Medicine) An attitude assumed in lying down; as, the dorsal decubitus .

Déculassement noun [ French] Also, sometimes, Anglicized Dec`u*lass"ment (Ordnance) An accidental blowing off of, or other serious damage to, the breechblock of a gun; also, a removal of the breechblock for the purpose of disabling the gun.

Decuman adjective [ Latin decumanus of the tenth, and by metonymy, large, from decem ten.] Large; chief; -- applied to an extraordinary billow, supposed by some to be every tenth in order. [ R.] Also used substantively. "Such decuman billows." Gauden. "The baffled decuman ." Lowell.

Decumbence, Decumbency noun The act or posture of lying down.

The ancient manner of decumbency .

Sir T. Browne.

Decumbent adjective [ Latin decumbens , -entis , present participle of decumbere ; de- + cumbere (only in comp.), cubare to lie down.]
1. Lying down; prostrate; recumbent.

The decumbent portraiture of a woman.

Ashmole.

2. (Botany) Reclining on the ground, as if too weak to stand, and tending to rise at the summit or apex; as, a decumbent stem. Gray.

Decumbently adverb In a decumbent posture.

Decumbiture noun
1. Confinement to a sick bed, or time of taking to one's bed from sickness. Boyle.

2. (Astrol.) Aspect of the heavens at the time of taking to one's sick bed, by which the prognostics of recovery or death were made.

Decuple adjective [ French décuple , Latin decuplus , from decem ten.] Tenfold. [ R.]

Decuple noun A number ten times repeated. [ R.]

Decuple transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Decupled ; present participle & verbal noun Decupling .] To make tenfold; to multiply by ten. [ R.]

Decurion noun [ Latin decurio , decurionis , from decuria a squad of ten, from decem ten.] (Rom. Antiq.) A head or chief over ten; especially, an officer who commanded a division of ten soldiers.

Decurionate noun [ Latin decurionatus , from decurio .] The office of a decurion.

Decurrence noun The act of running down; a lapse. [ R.] Gauden.