MEANING
Reduce or become smaller in amount, strength, or significance.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- diminish confidence
- diminish over time
On the page
Confidence diminished as the delays continued.
Nearby words
Opposite meanings
Word forms
- Base
- diminish
- Past tense
- diminished
- Past participle
- diminished
- Present participle
- diminishing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- diminish
- Present continuous
- am/is/are diminishing
- Present perfect
- have/has diminished
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been diminishing
- Past
- diminished
- Past continuous
- was/were diminishing
- Past perfect
- had diminished
- Past perfect continuous
- had been diminishing
- Future
- will diminish
- Future continuous
- will be diminishing
- Future perfect
- will have diminished
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been diminishing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: diminish; diminishes; diminished; diminished; diminishing Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: analysis, explanation, evaluation. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: diminishes.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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