SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
diminish
verb
To become smaller or less important, or to make something so.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Become or make less
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topBelittle reduces apparent worth; diminish can describe an actual decrease in size, force, or importance.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See diminish in use
The noise began to diminish as the audience left the hall.
The depot expects the pile of waiting parcels to diminish as the restored sorting shifts process more items than new deliveries add.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license