American Dictionary

Define dictionary terms easily in our powerful online English dictionary.

Searching for...

No matching words found

Try a different search term or browse the dictionary

Definition decrease in American English

decrease noun

[countable/uncountable] noun
/ˈdikris/

Don’t use decrease of when you want to talk about what is decreasing. Use decrease in:

✗ The experiment has not led to the expected decrease of crime.

✓ The experiment has not led to the expected decrease in crime.

✗ There has been a decrease of the birth rate in the industrialized world.

✓ There has been a decrease in the birth rate in the industrialized world.

Use decrease of with a number or percentage, when you want to talk about the amount by which something decreases:

These emissions show a decrease of 21 percent over the past five years.

increase

1

the process of becoming less, or the amount by which something is less

Example

a decrease in the number of violent crimes

Example

Profits were $1 million, which is a decrease of 5 percent from last year.

Synonyms and related words
Definition decrease in American English