英语词汇“diminish”的英英意思、用法、释义、翻译、读音、例句、短语、词组-英语词典

WORD ORIGINdiminish

Origin:

1400-1500 diminue (14-16 centuries), from Old French diminuer, from Latin minuere ‘to make less’

VERB TABLE

diminish

Simple Form
Present	I, you, we, they	diminish
	he, she, it	diminishes
Past	I, you, he, she, it, we, they	diminished
Present perfect	I, you, we, they	have diminished
	he, she, it	has diminished
Past perfect	I, you, he, she, it, we, they	had diminished
Future	I, you, he, she, it, we, they	will diminish
Future perfect	I, you, he, she, it, we, they	will have diminished

Continuous Form
Present	I	am diminishing
	he, she, it	is diminishing
	you, we, they	are diminishing
Past	I, he, she, it	was diminishing
	you, we, they	were diminishing
Present perfect	I, you, we, they	have been diminishing
	he, she, it	has been diminishing
Past perfect	I, you, he, she, it, we, they	had been diminishing
Future	I, you, he, she, it, we, they	will be diminishing
Future perfect	I, you, he, she, it, we, they	will have been diminishing

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES

"I'm not going to diminish the fact that I was upset," McMahon said.
Tate said the fences threaten to diminish property values in the neighborhood.
The time Foreman spent with his children gradually diminished.

EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS

It will diminish rapidly with the distance in relatedness between individuals.
One was the idea of diminishing returns, applied in this case to income or wealth.
Steady rates would diminish the risk that ever-more homeowners will refinance the mortgages underlying the bonds.
Then business diminished, and the partners persuaded Stratford to live off his Prescott estate in Gloucestershire.
When the food has gone, its appeal diminishes, the dance stops, the crowd disperses and a new hunt begins.
With time, such resistance will doubtless diminish.

THESAURUS► decrease

to become less in number or amount: · The average rainfall has decreased by around 30 percent.

► go down

to decrease. Go down is less formal than decrease and is the usual word to use in conversation: · Unemployment has gone down in the past few months.

► decline

formal to decrease – used with numbers or amounts, or about the level or standard of something: · The standard of living has declined.· Support for the government is steadily declining.· Salaries have declined by around 4.5%.

► diminish

to become smaller or less important: · Union membership diminished from 30,000 at its height to just 2,000 today.

► fall/drop

to decrease, especially by a large amount. Fall and drop are less formal than decrease: · The number of tigers in the wild has fallen to just over 10,000.· At night, the temperature drops to minus 20 degrees.

► plunge/plummet

to suddenly decrease very quickly and by a very large amount: · Share prices have plummeted 29% in the last four months.· Climate change could cause global temperatures to plummet.

► slide

if a price or value slides, it gradually decreases in a way that causes problems – used especially in news reports: · The dollar fell in late trading in New York yesterday and slid further this morning.

► dwindle

to gradually decrease until there is very little left of something, especially numbers or amounts, popularity, or importance: · Support for the theory is dwindling.

► taper off

if a number or the amount of an activity that is happening tapers off, it gradually decreases, especially so that it stops completely: · Political violence tapered off after the elections.

COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB► further

· The LEAs' power was further diminished by the 1988 Education Reform Act, in two major ways.· If anything, the ruling further diminishes that argument.· To the public at large faith in the political process, already at a low ebb, will diminish further.· Respect for elders, already severely weakened, will further diminish.

► gradually

· But as the egocentrism of other periods gradually diminished, so does the egocentrism of adolescence with continued development.

► greatly

· Hence without the existence of heterodoxy and orthodoxy, collective struggles diminish greatly in importance in traditional societies.· If Terk can do this without greatly diminishing either picture or sound quality, it has a winner.· And over the past 20 years, the number of closed countries has greatly diminished.· You will get 10 years of use, but possibly at a greatly diminished capacity.· So we need to preserve that part of vocational education but greatly diminish narrow training for specific jobs.· But if the principal base of lunar operations is in the equatorial region, the attractiveness of polar ice is greatly diminished.

► rapidly

· It will diminish rapidly with the distance in relatedness between individuals.· Well, I am testimony to what it is to be responsible yet my opportunities are rapidly diminishing....· However, recent evidence discussed in Chapter 5 shows that these gender-related differences are diminishing rapidly.· Furthermore, none of the considerations I have adduced suggest that political violence will rapidly diminish, still less disappear.· In the failing light with the wind increasing, the visibility was diminishing rapidly.· The latter, as will be discussed below, is particularly important in a world where the resource base is diminishing rapidly.

► significantly

· However, because the changes were not substantial, this does not significantly diminish the authority of those cases.· But he will begin his second term as the third-highest constitutional officer in the government with his political influence significantly diminished.· The bad news for small-time acts is that this exploratory role has diminished significantly over the last ten years.

► steadily

· As the system beds down and budgets tighten the opportunities for innovation and experimentation will steadily diminish.· Britain's dependence on nuclear power will therefore steadily diminish.

NOUN► authority

· Modern legislation had increasingly vested quasi-judicial powers in officials and excluded or indirectly diminished the authority of the courts.· They have to understand that it does not diminish their professional authority and status if they share decision-making with the governing body.· However, because the changes were not substantial, this does not significantly diminish the authority of those cases.

► chance

· The incident appeared likely to diminish the chances of the prisoners being freed last night.· Not least was that his presence diminished her chances of enjoying a happier relationship with some one else.· A round of hostilities could develop that would diminish the chances of the negotiations resuming.· This diminishes the chances of accidental war or pre-emptive strikes motivated by unfounded fears.

► importance

· But to describe the bill as largely symbolic is not to diminish its importance.· This model of saturation does not in any way diminish the importance of behavior change for individuals.· But this did not diminish their influence and importance.· This is not in any sense to diminish the importance of what sociology can achieve.· Hence without the existence of heterodoxy and orthodoxy, collective struggles diminish greatly in importance in traditional societies.· But this does not diminish the importance of the provisional discoveries which it contains, which the writer has moved to incorporate.· Over time these grew, rather than diminished, in importance.

► influence

· But this did not diminish their influence and importance.

► need

· In 1938, a flood wiped out many of the camps, diminishing the need for the pack trains.· Government resources have been constantly diminished by the need to prioritize defence.

► number

· Although diminishing in number, prerogative powers clearly remain of great importance.· And growing prosperity has boosted the quality of life for workers, while dramatically diminishing the number of labor complaints.· Modern farming techniques have diminished the number and quality of the wetlands which remain.· Whether your relationships are diminished in number or quality, the effect is detrimental to your health.· Once more the adults, though diminished in number, sat around a table, whispering about what to do.

► power

· Some women find ways of diminishing the demonic power of the ex.· Its terms purport to enlarge, not to diminish the powers vested in the government.· The anti-investiture decree, however great its symbolic importance, did little to diminish the power of lay rulers over ecclesiastical appointments.

► role

· This is not to diminish the roles that homophobia played or continues to play in exacerbating the problem.· Cage made music of non-musical sounds and ostensibly removed or diminished the traditional role of the composer.

► significance

· Feminists also tend to diminish the significance of the unconscious, a move which encourages a purely psychological view of the subject.· And if I use humour to avoid your problem or make light of it, then I diminish its significance.

► size

· It is now diminishing as metric sizes were adopted some time ago.· All our coinage, even our notes, diminish in size in proportion to what you can buy with it.· The first is that the risk of insolvency diminishes with increased size.· At once the image shrank, diminishing to its former size.· The operation proceeds in waves which diminish in size as the target is approached.

► value

· One effect of this sea change in the way the world works is the diminishing value of manual labor.

► way

· This interpretation in no way diminishes the enigma of the relationship between electrochemical events in the nervous system and conscious experiences.· This model of saturation does not in any way diminish the importance of behavior change for individuals.· One point of aid was used, which in no way diminishes what is a major achievement.· I thought she was right, but there was no way she could diminish my brother in my eyes.· Their dedication to the cause was in no way diminished by their exile, and in many ways was enhanced by it.· This prejudice, as we will see, in no way disappears or even diminishes in Feuerbach's later theory of religion.· Some women find ways of diminishing the demonic power of the ex.· Nevertheless, the high status of the woman's influence is in no way diminished.

VERB► begin

· During the latter part of the night, in spite of having had no sleep, feelings of fatigue begin to diminish.· The dread disease of the Rappers, Rap Rootinitis, would begin to diminish.· The previous autumn, the muggy monsoon heat had begun to diminish on the very day following the festival of Dusshera.· However, the pain already had begun to diminish.· He began to diminish the moment just past.· The balsam fir, which had not shown much decline prior to 1986, also began to be diminished.· The tension was also reflected in West Beirut, where support for the blockade began to diminish.· My sense of urgency began to diminish.

► increase

· Consciousness exacted its price: as surely as it increased freedom so it diminished it.· Some strength or recklessness seemed to have been released in her by recent events; she had increased as Anwar had diminished.· The guilt will increase and the passion diminish.

► seem

· Hunger pangs, in any event, seemed to be diminishing.· But expectations seemed to diminish day by day over the last week.· What remained of Belfast's mudflats seemed certain to be diminished by unrestricted dumping.· The suspicion with which the renewal movement was viewed seems to have diminished, as does the stridency of charismatic claims.· The tenor of the above letter seems to endorse rather than diminish that inference - Ed.· Yet these feelings seem to diminish in intensity as one gets older.

► tend

· Feminists also tend to diminish the significance of the unconscious, a move which encourages a purely psychological view of the subject.· Most reds will be emphasized by artificial light; blues and greens tend to be diminished by it.· The pleasures of art tend to be diminished by returning to a complete absence of hot bath water.

PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY► diminishing returns

Technologies that helped rescue developing countries from famine in the 1970s have reached the point of diminishing returns.
A law of diminishing returns applies to seed but not to pollen.
But it doesn't take a crystal ball to figure out the diminishing returns involved in planning programmes around such disposable performers.
For all of us there is also the law of diminishing returns that goes to work with each successive bite.
It is a process of diminishing returns, as Arthur Holmes showed mathematically nearly 30 years ago.
One was the idea of diminishing returns, applied in this case to income or wealth.
The problem with chocolates is that they operate on a loss curve of massively diminishing returns.
They have created new forms of entertainment rather than providing variations on old themes that inevitably have diminishing returns over time.