DIMINISH • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Diminish

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/dɪmˈɪnɪʃ/ Listen

verb

Diminish v. t. (past & past part. diminished; pres. part. diminishing)

1.

To make smaller in any manner; to reduce in bulk or amount; to lessen; opposed to augment or increase. "Not diminish, but rather increase, the debt."

2.

To lessen the authority or dignity of; to put down; to degrade; to abase; to weaken. "This doth nothing diminish their opinion." "I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations." "O thou... at whose sight all the stars Hide their diminished heads."

3.

(Mus.) To make smaller by a half step; to make (an interval) less than minor; as, a diminished seventh.

4.

To take away; to subtract. "Neither shall ye diminish aught from it."

Diminished column, one whose upper diameter is less than the lower.

Diminished scale, or Diminishing scale, a scale of gradation used in finding the different points for drawing the spiral curve of the volute.

Diminishing rule (Arch.), a board cut with a concave edge, for fixing the entasis and curvature of a shaft.

Diminishing stile (Arch.), a stile which is narrower in one part than in another, as in many glazed doors.

Synonyms: To decrease; lessen; abate; reduce; contract; curtail; impair; degrade. See Decrease.

Diminish v. i. To become or appear less or smaller; to lessen; as, the apparent size of an object diminishes as we recede from it.

See images of 'Diminish'

Etymology of 'Diminish'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Diminish" Quotes from Famous Books

... should have great pleasure in beholding. It must add to her charms, and cannot diminish the character, sense, and shrewdness which distinguish her physiognomy, and which she possesses in a great degree, with a happy engrafting of a high-bred foreign air upon an ...

— George Selwyn: His Letters and His Life • E. S. Roscoe and Helen Clergue

... had to curtail their volume of business. In other industries the lack of labor supply has not been felt. Evidently only the industries requiring highly qualified labor have suffered from this cause. The shortage of fuel forced 108 establishments with 49,000 workers to diminish their output, and eleven establishments with 3,000 workers had to close ...

— The New York Times Current History: the European War, February, 1915 • Various

... and who, to deserve it, explained all animal actions by religious theories. He saw me one evening lapping milk from a saucer and complimented the old woman on the manner in which I had been bred, seeing me lick first the edges of the saucer and gradually diminish the circle of fluid. ...

— Lords of the Housetops - Thirteen Cat Tales • Various

... any course which lies before them, nor engage in it when it is plain that the dangers outweigh the advantages, even though they be advised by others that it is the most expedient way to take. Should they act otherwise, it will fare with them as with Tullius, who, in seeking to diminish the power of Marcus Antonius, added to it. For Antonius, who had been declared an enemy by the senate, having got together a strong force, mostly made up of veterans who had shared the fortunes of Caesar, ...

— Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius • Niccolo Machiavelli

... but the abundance did not diminish. On the day of departure, canoe after canoe put off to us. Tehei brought cucumbers and a young papaia tree burdened with splendid fruit. Also, for me he brought a tiny, double canoe with fishing apparatus complete. Further, he brought fruits and vegetables with the same ...

— The Cruise of the Snark • Jack London

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