Wordnet 3.0
ADJECTIVE (1)
1.
becoming smaller or less or appearing to do so;
- Example: "diminishing returns"- Example: "his diminishing respect for her"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Diminish \Di*min"ish\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Diminished; p. pr.
& vb. n. Diminishing.] [Pref. di- (= L. dis-) + minish: cf.
L. diminuere, F. diminuer, OE. diminuen. See Dis-, and
Minish.]
1. To make smaller in any manner; to reduce in bulk or
amount; to lessen; -- opposed to augment or increase.
[1913 Webster]
Not diminish, but rather increase, the debt.
--Barrow.
[1913 Webster]
2. To lessen the authority or dignity of; to put down; to
degrade; to abase; to weaken.
[1913 Webster]
This doth nothing diminish their opinion. --Robynson
(More's
Utopia).
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I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule
over the nations. --Ezek. xxix.
15.
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O thou . . . at whose sight all the stars
Hide their diminished heads. --Milton.
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3. (Mus.) To make smaller by a half step; to make (an
interval) less than minor; as, a diminished seventh.
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4. To take away; to subtract.
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Neither shall ye diminish aught from it. --Deut. iv.
2.
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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. --Gwilt.
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.
Syn: To decrease; lessen; abate; reduce; contract; curtail;
impair; degrade. See Decrease.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
diminishing
adj 1: becoming smaller or less or appearing to do so;
"diminishing returns"; "his diminishing respect for her"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
40 Moby Thesaurus words for "diminishing":
abating, allaying, alleviating, assuaging, blunting, chastening,
contractive, cushioning, dampening, damping, deadening, declining,
decreasing, decrescendo, decrescent, deliquescent, diminuendo,
dulling, dwindling, dying, easing, ebbing, fading, languishing,
lessening, mitigating, on the wane, receding, reducing, reductive,
relaxing, retiring, retreating, shrinking, sinking, softening,
subduing, subsiding, tempering, waning