decline
To choose not to do somethingTo choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain.
Recorded US: Dvortygirl, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
» They declined the invitation to our party.
Вони відхилили запрошення на вечірку. — ascolto
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRTranslations
8 languagesBy meaning 2
By meaning 4
By meaning 4
Examples
325 sentencesThey declined the invitation to our party.
Вони відхилили запрошення на вечірку. — ascolto
She declined to say more about it.
Вона відмовилася розказати більше про це. — ChickenKiev
ruОна отказалась сказать об этом больше. — Lenin_1917
She declined the invitation.
Вона відхилила запрошення. — deniko
ruОна отклонила приглашение. — Avelesy
deSie lehnte die Einladung ab. — xtofu80
Meaning
10 senses(transitive)To choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain.
On reflection I think I will decline your generous offer.
ablehnen, abschlagen
отказатьotkazatʹ
відхиля́тиvidxyljáty, відхили́тиvidxylýty
(transitive, usually)To inflect for case, number, gender, and the like.
deklinieren
склоня́тьsklonjátʹ
відмі́нюватиvidmínjuvaty
inflect for number, gender, case, etc.
(intransitive)To become weaker or worse.
My health declined in winter.
abnehmen, zurückgehen
ослабеватьoslabevatʹ
More meanings 7
(intransitive)To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
The dollar has declined rapidly since 2001.
sinken, fallen
спада́тьspadátʹ
To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.
a line that declines from straightness
conduct that declines from sound morals
(Canadian)To reject a penalty against the opposing team, usually because the result of accepting it would benefit the non-penalized team less than the preceding play.
The team chose to decline the fifteen-yard penalty because their receiver had caught the ball for a thirty-yard gain.
(transitive)To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
(transitive)To cause to decrease or diminish.
(transitive)To recite all the different declined forms of (a word): to recite its declension.
(broadly)To run through from first to last; to recite in order as though declining a noun.
Origin
From Middle English declinen, and ultimately Latin declīnō (“to bend, turn aside, deflect,From Middle English declinen, and ultimately Latin declīnō (“to bend, turn aside, deflect, inflect, decline”, from dē- (“down”) + clīnō (“to bend, to incline”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (English lean). The senses arrived from two separate pathways in Middle English:
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
declines, declining, declined, declinedTenses
decline · declined · will decline · have declinedSynonyms
10 synonymsWord family
13 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- B2Describing graphs and trends — Because the lesson uses it
- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.