Picture a line bending away from where it was going — sometimes bending downward (the graph sinks, the health , the years run out), sometimes bending aside (the invitation is turned away rather than refused flat). One movement, two directions, and both are in this word.
From the word’s history
From Latin declinare 'to lower; avoid, deviate; bend from, inflect', from de- 'from' + clinare 'to bend'. The 'refuse politely' sense appears in the 1630s from the idea of turning aside; the grammatical sense (a noun 'declining' through its cases) has been in use since the late 14th century. The de- was later felt as 'downward', which is why the sinking sense feels so central today.
來自拉丁文 declinare「放低、避開、偏離、使字形變化」，由 de-「從…離開」加 clinare「彎」組成。「婉拒」這個意思在 1630 年代出現，正是從「把它偏到一邊」來的；文法上的「變格」則從十四世紀末就在用，指一個字沿著格位一路「彎」出不同形狀。後來 de- 被理解成「往下」，所以今天最有感的反而是下降那一支。這條線有出處，不是為了好記編的。
Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), entry 'decline'
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料15 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
declinenoun/dɪˈklaɪn/
- 1
Downward movement, fall.
- The aircraft went into a sudden decline before the pilot regained control.
- 2
A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.
- After taking a right from that turn a decline will come into view.
- 3
A deterioration of condition; a weakening or worsening.
- He has experienced a sudden decline in his health.
- Educational standards are on the decline.
- 4
A reduction or diminution of activity, prevalence or quantity.
- Population decline is a major concern.
- Town-centre retailers have seen a decline in footfall.
- 5
The act of declining or refusing something.
- The issuing bank only checks the consumer's credit card number for authorization. […] Soft declines are those declines in which the bank requires further verification.
declineverb/dɪˈklaɪn/
- 1
To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
- The dollar has declined rapidly since 2001.
- Only empirical observation, and not deduction from the nature of the profit rate, can tell us whether it does tend permanently to decline; and such observation is not found to confirm Marx's theory.
- 2
To become weaker or worse.
- My health declined in winter.
- After her sother died, Connie began to decline noticeably.
- 3
To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
- in melancholy site, with head declined
- And now faire Phoebus gan decline in hast / His weary wagon to the Westerne vale.
- 4
To cause to decrease or diminish.
- You have declin'd his means.
- He knoweth his error, but will not seek to decline it.
- 5
To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.
- a line that declines from straightness
- conduct that declines from sound morals
- 6
To choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain.
- Could I decline this dreadful hour?
- “[…] This is Mr. Churchill, who, as you are aware, is good enough to come to us for his diaconate, and, as we hope, for much longer; and being a gentleman of independent means, he declines to take any payment.” Saying this Walden rubbed his hands together and smiled contentedly.
- 7
grammarhuman-scienceslinguisticsTo inflect for case, number, gender, and the like.
- 8
grammarhuman-scienceslinguisticsTo recite all the different declined forms of (a word): to recite its declension.
- after the first declining of a noun and a verb
另外 2 個記錄的用法
- 9
To run through from first to last; to recite in order as though declining a noun.
- Decline all this, and see what now thou art. For happy wife, a most distressed widow; For joyful mother, one that wails the name; For one being sued to, one that humbly sues; For queen , a very caitiff crown'd with care[…]
- 10
American-footballball-gamesfootballTo reject a penalty against the opposing team, usually because the result of accepting it would benefit the non-penalized team less than the preceding play.
- The team chose to decline the fifteen-yard penalty because their receiver had caught the ball for a thirty-yard gain.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。