English → Latin
“decline” in Latin
dēminūtiōdiminution, decrease, lessening, abatement; a diminutive formimminūtiōlessening, weakening, impairing, injuring; defloweringextenuātiōa thinning or diminishing, rarefaction; a lessening, diminution, extenuation; as a rhetorical figure, translating the Anremissiōa sending back, release; a slackening, diminishing, abatement; relaxation, recreationmītigātiōsoftening, soothing; mitigating, mitigationtābēsthe act of wasting away (due to a disease or by other means: especially of the dorsal columns of the spinal cord subservphthisisconsumption, phthisis, tuberculosislāborto slip, slide, glide; (of fluids) to flow gently; to fall, sink down; to slip, stumbledēlāborto fall, sink or slip down; to glide or fly down; to sink or descendinclīnōto cause to lean, bend, tilt, incline, turn; bend down, bow something; divert; swerve; to cause to fall back or give way
The English word decline itself goes back to Latin clīnō, through declīnō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
decline s.
deminutio: imminutio: extenuatio: remissio: mitigatio. [Vid: LESSENING.] To be on the decline [Vid: To DECLINE]. The decline of life, ingravescens aetas (Cic.). In the decline of life, provectiore aetate (in advanced years); vergente jam senecta (Tac.); vergens annis (Tac.): to be in the decline of life, longius aetate provectum esse.
Consumption, tabes. phthisis (φθίσις , Cels., 3, 22): anybody is in a decline, corpus alicujus ad tabem venit; tabes aliquem invadit: to be in a decline, *tabe laborare.
decline
To lean downward, inclinare proclivem or declivem esse: labi; delabi (to sink gradually); inclinari, se inclinare (of the day, fortune, etc.).
To grow weaker, or to decrease, deminui (to be lessened; of bodily strength, etc. ☞ not diminui): minui, imminui (of prices, influence, etc.): remittere (of what is diminished in intensity): defervescere (of heat, desires, passions): senescere (to be weakened by age or time; of strength; also of memory, hope, zeal, etc.): deficere (of strength, etc.): my strength declines, viribus senesco, or deficior; vires extenuantur, deficiunt: the price of corn declines, annona laxat, levatur: the price of anything declines, *pretium mercis imminuitur; *res fit vilior: public credit declines, fides (tota aliqua terra [e.g., Italia, Caes.] est angustior: anybody’s health is declining, aliquis valetudinem amittit: alicujus valetudo decrescit (Plaut., Cure., 2, 1, 4); aliquis tenui, infirma, minus commoda est valetudine: eloquence has declined from its Attic purity of diction, eloquentia omnem illam salubritatem Atticae dictionis quasi sanitatem perdidit (Cic.): the day declines, dies se inclinat or inclinatur, but probably better, *in vespertinum tempus inclinatur (after inclinato in post-meridianum tempus die, Cic.); dies vergit (Suet., Otho, 7; Plin.): anybody’s influence, popularity, etc., declines, alicujus auctoritas, existimatio, etc., imminuta est: the power of the Athenians declines, opes Atheniensium senescunt.
To refuse, declinare aliquid (by getting out of its way frequent in Cic.): renuere aliquid (by a shake of the head): to decline complying with anybody’s entreaties, petenti alicui aliquid denegare; preces alicujus repudiare: to decline faintly, subnegare aliquid; courteously, belle negare; flatly, praecise negare; sine ulla exceptione or plane praecidere.
Deviate from; [Vid: DEVIATE].
To decline a word, verbum immutare casibus; verbum declinare (used in the old Grammarians of every kind of grammatical inflection).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for decline?
- The usual Latin words for “decline” are dēminūtiō, imminūtiō, extenuātiō; also remissiō, mītigātiō, tābēs. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.