diminution

From Middle English diminucioun, from Anglo-Norman diminuciun, Old French diminucion, from Latin dīminūtiō.

• IPA^(key): /dɪmɪˈnjuːʃən/
• Rhymes: -uːʃən
• Hyphenation: di‧mi‧nu‧tion

diminution (countable and uncountable, plural diminutions)

1. A lessening, decrease or reduction.

   The new emission standards have produced a measurable diminution in air pollution.

   • 1800 October 24, Alexander Hamilton, “Letter from Alexander Hamilton, Concerning the Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq. President of the United States”, in Harold C. Syrett, editor, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton‎, volumes 25, July 1800 – April 1802, New York: Columbia University Press, published 1962, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 187:

     Another part, feeling a diminution of confidence in him, still hope that the general tenor of his conduct will be essentially right.

   • 1860, John Ruskin, chapter 1, in Modern Painters […], volume V, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, part VII (Of Cloud Beauty), § 9, page 111:

     Cold is usually shapeless, I suppose, extending over large spaces equally, or with gradual diminution.

   • 1954, Wallace Stegner, Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West, Houghton Mifflin, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 170:

     Scenic illusions such as those caused by the haze, or the apparent diminution of scale where everything was enormous, intrigued Dutton.

2. The act or process of making diminutive.
3. (music) a compositional technique where the composer shortens the melody by shortening its note values.

• (lessening, decrease): diminishment

• diminish
• diminished
• diminuendo

Inherited from Old French diminucion, borrowed from Latin dīminūtiōnem.

• IPA^(key): /di.mi.ny.sjɔ̃/

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diminution f (plural diminutions)

1. diminution, abatement

• “diminution”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

diminution (plural diminutiones)

1. decrease

• diminuer