Webster's English Dictionary

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decline

Cross references:
  1. deterioration         
 
1. de.cline \di-'kli-n\ vb [ME declinen, fr. MF decliner, fr. L declinare 
   to turn aside,] inflect, fr. de- + clinare to incline 1: to turn from a 
   straight course : STRAY  2a: to slope downward : DESCEND  2b: to bend down 
   : DROOP  2c: to stoop to what is unworthy  of a celestial body  3a: to sink 
   toward setting  3b: to draw toward a close : WANE  4: to withhold consent  
   1: to give in prescribed order the grammatical forms of (a noun, pronoun,  
   or adjective) obs  2a: AVERT  2b: AVOID  3: to cause to bend or bow 
   downward  4a: to refuse to undertake, engage in, or comply with  4b: to 
   refuse to accept  mean to turn away by not accepting, receiving, or 
   considering. DECLINE implies courteous refusal esp. of offers or 
   invitations; REFUSE suggests more positiveness or ungraciousness and often 
   implies the denial of something asked for; REJECT implies a peremptory 
   refusal by sending away or discarding; REPUDIATE implies a casting off or 
   disowning as untrue, unauthorized, or unworthy of acceptance; SPURN 
   stresses contempt or disdain in rejection or repudiation SYN syn DECLINE, 
   REFUSE, REJECT, REPUDIATE, SPURN 
2. decline n 1: the process of declining :  1a: a gradual physical or 
   mental sinking and wasting away  1b: a change to a lower state or level  2: 
   the period during which something is approaching its end  3: a downward 
   slope : DECLIVITY  4: a wasting disease; esp : pulmonary tuberculosis