Meaning
- Diminish means to make something smaller, weaker, or less important.
- It can refer to reducing size, value, importance, or intensity.
Grammar and Usage
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Part of speech: Verb
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Forms: diminish – diminishes – diminishing – diminished
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Transitive: to diminish something (reduce it)
- e.g., The medicine diminished her pain.
-
Intransitive: to diminish (become smaller/weaker by itself)
- e.g., His influence diminished over time.
Common Phrases
- Diminish the importance of – make something seem less important
- Diminish in value – lose worth
- Diminish confidence – reduce someone’s trust or belief
Collocations
- greatly diminish
- gradually diminish
- diminish significantly
- diminish the risk
- diminish strength
Examples
- The company’s profits have diminished over the past few years.
- Regular exercise can diminish the risk of heart disease.
- His careless words diminished her confidence.
- The pain will gradually diminish as the wound heals.
- The scandal greatly diminished the politician’s reputation.
- Over time, the noise diminished until it completely disappeared.
- The new law is likely to diminish opportunities for young workers.
- His power and influence diminished after the new leader took over.
Synonyms or Related
- Decrease
- Reduce
- Lessen
- Weaken
- Lower
- Curtail
- Dwindle (intransitive, similar meaning)
