Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The act or process of diminishing; a lessening or reduction.
- n. The resulting reduction; decrease.
- n. Music Statement of a theme in notes of lesser duration, usually one-half, of the original.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The act of diminishing, lessening, or reducing; a making smaller; a lowering in amount, value, dignity, estimation, etc.: as, the diminution of wealth, of importance, of power.
- n. The process of becoming less: as, the apparent diminution of a receding body; the diminution of the velocity of a projectile.
- n. In music, the repetition or imitation of a subject or theme in notes having one half or one quarter the duration of those first used: a favorite device in contrapuntal composition. See canon, counterpoint, and imitation.
- n. In law, an omission in the record of a case sent up from an inferior court to the court of review.
- n. In heraldry, differencing, especially that kind of differencing called cadency.
- n. In architecture, the gradual decrease in the diameter of the shaft of a column from the base to the capital. Synonyms 1 and 2. Decrease, reduction, abridgment, abatement.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The act of diminishing, or of making or becoming less; state of being diminished; reduction in size, quantity, or degree; -- opposed to
augmentation orincrease . - n. The act of lessening dignity or consideration, or the state of being deprived of dignity; a lowering in estimation; degradation; abasement.
- n. (Law) Omission, inaccuracy, or defect in a record.
- n. (Mus.) In counterpoint, the imitation of, or reply to, a subject, in notes of half the length or value of those the subject itself.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the act of decreasing or reducing something
- n. change toward something smaller or lower
- n. the statement of a theme in notes of lesser duration (usually half the length of the original)
Etymologies
- Middle English diminucioun, from Old French diminution, from Latin dīminūtiō, dīminūtiōn-, from dīminūtus, past participle of dīminuere; see diminish. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I. iii.18 (165,3) till the diminution/Of space had pointed him sharp as my needle] _The diminution of space_, is _the diminution_ of which”
“If the above seems to create an "unfair" windfall for stockholders or short term diminution of tax revenues, raise the capital gains rates.”
“I learned augmentation and diminution from the d-sharp-minor fugue in Book I of the WTC; I learned inversion from Rachmaninoff's Paganini Variations — the old stand-bys are old indeed.”
“But that diminution is contained within the House of Representatives itself whose members all suffer equally.”
“After the summer solstice, although the days are shortening in consequence of the sun's recession, their diminution is for some time scarcely perceptible, and as the days are still much longer than the nights, more heat is imparted to the earth than is lost by night-radiation.”
“I had thought it was just either some short-term diminution in frequency that might be over soon, or a case of the recency illusion.”
“Someone will no-doubt pop up and say that evolution will ensure that new, adapted species will pop up, but the current evidence suggests that the change will be faster than evolution will be able to comfortably adapt for leading to a long term diminution in biological richness.”
“Given the uncertainties in both models and the significant differences concerning the causes (dust and soot, versus sulphates) and length (three months to several years), the analogy between 'nuclear winter' and 'volcanic winter' was unsubstantiated, having only a vague commonality in a short-term diminution of global temperatures.”
James Warren: This Week in Magazines: Online Dating, Erupting Volcanoes and Dick Cheney
“One of the casualties of his diminution has been his Administration's ever weakening support for the climate agenda, even though he has pumped billions in Federal funds into clean technology.”
“Pollster Geoff Garin joined the Clinton campaign late in March, in what other advisers privately described as a diminution of power for Mr. Penn.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘diminution’.
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-tion
vacation, suggestion, donation, condition, education, examination, federation, generation, imagination, invention, operation, pollution and 166 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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January 2012
bloviate, pastiche, apparat, facile, paroxysm, pique, bedfellow, pedigree, tutelage, protege, protégé, retroactive and 196 more...
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The Enterprise
enterprise, gameplan, goal, gimmick, intendment of int..., lay of the land, machination, notions, object, objectives, pitch, picture and 54 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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James Hervey
embolden, cumbrous, dissolution, alacrity, cockatrice, abject, resistless, diminution, herbage, augment, similitude
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Sense and Sensibility
Words from the book by Jane Austen.
shew, shewn, shewing, shewed, dupe, wither, rambled, extorting, cavil, rap, mildness, controuled and 133 more...
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Vocab ##5
appint, monarch, counterpart, muse, bestow, unwitting, aghast, admonish, wage, decree, cavalry, phalanx and 126 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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The Innocents Abroad
Words rounded up while reading The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain.
rakish, excursionist, bowelless, pilgrimizing, melodeon, woebegone, abaft, sextant, veriest, behindhand, stanchion, avast and 188 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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