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Origin and history of decline

decline(v.)

late 14c., "to turn aside, deviate" (a sense now archaic), also "sink to a lower level," and, figuratively, "fall to an inferior or impaired condition," from Old French decliner "to sink, decline, degenerate, turn aside," from Latin declinare "to lower; avoid, deviate; bend from, inflect," from de "from" (see de-) + clinare "to bend" (from PIE *klein-, suffixed form of root *klei- "to lean").

In grammar, "to inflect as a noun or adjective," from late 14c. The sense has been altered by interpretation of de- as "downward;" intransitive meaning "to bend or slant down" is from c. 1400. Sense of "not to consent, politely refuse or withhold consent to do" is from 1630s. Related: Declined; declining.

decline(n.)

early 14c., "deterioration, degeneration, a sinking into an impaired or inferior condition," from Old French declin, from decliner "to sink, decline, degenerate" (see decline (v.)). Meaning "the time of life when physical and mental powers are failing" is short for decline of life (by 1711).

also from early 14c.

Entries linking to decline

declination(n.)

late 14c., declinacioun, in astronomy, "distance of a heavenly body from the celestial equator, measured on a great circle passing through the body and the celestial pole," from Old French declinacion (Modern French déclinaison) and directly from Latin declinationem (nominative declinatio) "a bending from (something), a bending aside; the supposed slope of the earth toward the poles; a turning away from (something), an avoiding," noun of action from past-participle stem of declinare (see decline (v.)). From c. 1400 as "a bending or sloping downward." Related: Declinational.

indeclinable(adj.)

late 14c., originally in grammar, from French indéclinable or directly from Latin indeclinabilis "unchangeable," also in grammar, from indeclinatus "unchanged, constant," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + declinatus, from declinare "to lower; avoid, deviate; bend from, inflect" (see decline (v.)). Related: Indeclinably.

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wane
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contravene
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incline
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