N. decrease, diminution, lessening, subtraction, reduction, abatement, declension, shrinking, coarctation|, abridgment, extenuation, subsidence, wane, ebb, decline, ebbing, descent, decrement, reflux, depreciation, deterioration, anticlimax, mitigation

V. decrease, diminish, lessen, abridge, shrink, drop off, fall off, tail off, fall away, waste, wear, wane, ebb, decline, descend, subside, melt away, die away, retire into the shade, hide its diminished head, fall to a low ebb, run low, languish, decay, crumble, bate, abate, dequantitate|, discount, depreciate, extenuate, lower, weaken, attenuate, fritter away, mitigate, dwarf, throw into the shade, reduce, shorten, subtract

Adj. unincreased &c. (see increase ), decreased, decreasing, on the wane

Phr. "a gilded halo hovering round decay", "fine by degrees and beautifully less", 3, conjunctive quantity

N. subtraction, subduction|, deduction, retrenchment, removal, withdrawal, ablation, sublation, abstraction, garbling, &c. v, mutilation, detruncation, amputation, abscission, excision, recision, curtailment, minuend, subtrahend, decrease, abrasion

V. subduct, subtract, deduct, deduce, bate, retrench, remove, withdraw, take from, take away, detract, garble, mutilate, amputate, detruncate, cut off, cut away, cut out, abscind, excise, pare, thin, prune, decimate, abrade, scrape, file, geld, castrate, eliminate, diminish, curtail, deprive of, weaken

Adj. subtracted, subtractive

Adv. in deduction, less, short of, minus, without, except, except for, excepting, with the exception of, barring, save, exclusive of, save and except, with a reservation, not counting, if one doesn't count

N. impotence, inability, disability, disablement, impuissance, imbecility, incapacity, incapability, inaptitude, ineptitude, incompetence, unproductivity, indocility, invalidity, disqualification, inefficiency, wastefulness, telum imbelle, brutum fulmen, blank, blank cartridge, flash in the pan, vox et proeterea nihil, dead letter, bit of waste paper, dummy, paper tiger, quaker gun, inefficacy, failure, helplessness, prostration, paralysis, palsy, apoplexy, syncope, sideration|, deliquium|, collapse, exhaustion, softening of the brain, inanition, emasculation, orchiotomy, orchotomy, cripple, old woman, muff, powder puff, creampuff, pussycat, wimp, mollycoddle, eunuch

V. be impotent, not have a leg to stand on, vouloir rompre l'anguille au genou, vouloir prendre la lune avec les dents, collapse, faint, swoon, fall into a swoon, drop, go by the board, go by the wayside, go up in smoke, end in smoke, render powerless, deprive of power, disable, disenable, disarm, incapacitate, disqualify, unfit, invalidate, deaden, cramp, tie the hands, double up, prostrate, paralyze, muzzle, cripple, becripple, maim, lame, hamstring, draw the teeth of, throttle, strangle, garrotte, garrote, ratten, silence, sprain, clip the wings of, put hors de combat, spike the guns, take the wind out of one's sails, scotch the snake, put a spoke in one's wheel, break the neck, break the back, unhinge, unfit, put out of gear, unman, unnerve, enervate, emasculate, castrate, geld, alter, neuter, sterilize, fix, shatter, exhaust, weaken

Adj. powerless, impotent, unable, incapable, incompetent, inefficient, ineffective, inept, unfit, unfitted, unqualified, disqualified, unendowed, inapt, unapt, crippled, disabled, armless, harmless, unarmed, weaponless, defenseless, sine ictu, unfortified, indefensible, vincible, pregnable, untenable, paralytic, paralyzed, palsied, imbecile, nerveless, sinewless, marrowless, pithless, lustless, emasculate, disjointed, out of joint, out of gear, unnerved, unhinged, water-logged, on one's beam ends, rudderless, laid on one's back, done up, dead beat, exhausted, shattered, demoralized, graveled, helpless, unfriended, fatherless, without a leg to stand on, hors de combat, laid on the shelf, null and void, nugatory, inoperative, good for nothing, ineffectual, inadequate, inefficacious

Phr. der kranke mann, "desirous still but impotent to rise", the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

N. weakness, debility, atony, relaxation, languor, enervation, impotence, infirmity, effeminacy, feminality, fragility, flaccidity, inactivity, anaemia, bloodlessness, deficiency of blood, poverty of blood, declension of strength, loss of strength, failure of strength, delicacy, invalidation, decrepitude, asthenia, adynamy, cachexy, cachexia, sprain, strain, reed, thread, rope of sand, house of cards, softling, weakling, infant, youth

V. be weak, drop, crumble, give way, totter, tremble, shake, halt, limp, fade, languish, decline, flag, fail, have one leg in the grave, render weak, weaken, enfeeble, debilitate, shake, deprive of strength, relax, enervate, eviscerate, unbrace, unnerve, cripple, unman, cramp, reduce, sprain, strain, blunt the edge of, dilute, impoverish, decimate, extenuate, reduce in strength, reduce the strength of, mettre de l'eau dans son vin

Adj. weak, feeble, debile|, impotent, relaxed, unnerved, &c. v, sapless, strengthless, powerless, weakly, unstrung, flaccid, adynamic, asthenic, nervous, soft, effeminate, feminate, womanly, frail, fragile, shattery, flimsy, unsubstantial, insubstantial, gimcrack, gingerbread, rickety, creaky, creaking, cranky, craichy, drooping, tottering, broken, lame, withered, shattered, shaken, crazy, shaky, palsied, decrepit, languid, poor, infirm, faint, faintish, sickly, dull, slack, evanid|, spent, short-winded, effete, weather-beaten, decayed, rotten, worn, seedy, languishing, wasted, washy, laid low, pulled down, the worse for wear, unstrengthened, unsupported, unaided, unassisted, aidless, defenseless, cantilevered (support) 215, on its last legs, weak as a child, weak as a baby, weak as a chicken, weak as a cat, weak as a rat, weak as water, weak as water gruel, weak as gingerbread, weak as milk and water, colorless

Phr. non sum qualis eram, 3, power in operation

N. moderation, lenity, temperateness, gentleness, sobriety, quiet, mental calmness, moderating, anaphrodisia, relaxation, remission, mitigation, tranquilization, assuagement, contemporation, pacification, measure, juste milieu, golden mean, ἄριστον μέτρον, moderator, lullaby, sedative, lenitive, demulcent, antispasmodic, carminative, laudanum, rose water, balm, poppy, opiate, anodyne, milk, opium, "poppy or mandragora", wet blanket, palliative

V. be -moderate, keep within bounds, keep within compass, sober down, settle down, keep the peace, remit, relent, take in sail, moderate, soften, mitigate, temper, accoy|, attemper, contemper, mollify, lenify, dulcify, dull, take off the edge, blunt, obtund, sheathe, subdue, chasten, sober down, tone down, smooth down, weaken, lessen, check palliate, tranquilize, pacify, assuage, appease, swag, lull, soothe, compose, still, calm, calm down, cool, quiet, hush, quell, sober, pacify, tame, damp, lay, allay, rebate, slacken, smooth, alleviate, rock to sleep, deaden, smooth, throw cold water on, throw a wet blanket over, turn off, slake, curb, tame, smooth over, pour oil on the waves, pour oil on the troubled waters, pour balm into, mattre de l'eau dans son vin, go out like a lamb, "roar you as gently as any sucking dove,"

Adj. moderate, lenient, gentle, mild, mellow, cool, sober, temperate, reasonable, measured, tempered, calm, unruffled, quiet, tranquil, still, slow, smooth, untroubled, tame, peaceful, peaceable, pacific, halcyon, unexciting, unirritating, soft, bland, oily, demulcent, lenitive, anodyne, hypnotic, sedative, antiorgastic, anaphrodisiac, mild as mother's milk, milk and water

Adv. moderately, gingerly, piano, under easy sail, at half speed, within bounds, within compass, in reason

Phr. est modue in rebus, pour oil on troubled waters, 4, indirect power

N. counter evidence, evidence on the other side, evidence on the other hand, conflicting evidence, contradictory evidence, opposing evidence, disproof, refutation, negation, plea, vindication counter protest, "tu quoque" argument, other side of the shield, other side of the coin, reverse of the shield

V. countervail, oppose, mitigate against, rebut, subvert, cheek, weaken, contravene, contradict, tell the other side of the story, tell another story, turn the scale, alter the case, turn the tables, cut both ways, prove a negative, audire alteram partem

Adj. countervailing, contradictory, unattested, unauthenticated, unsupported by evidence, supposititious

Adv. on the contrary, per contra

N. deterioration, debasement, wane, ebb, recession, retrogradation, decrease, degeneracy, degeneration, degenerateness, degradation, depravation, depravement, devolution, depravity, demoralization, retrogression, masochism, impairment, inquination|, injury, damage, loss, detriment, delaceration|, outrage, havoc, inroad, ravage, scath, perversion, prostitution, vitiation, discoloration, oxidation, pollution, defoedation|, poisoning, venenation|, leaven, contamination, canker, corruption, adulteration, alloy, decline, declension, declination, decadence, decadency, falling off, caducity, decrepitude, decay, dilapidation, ravages of time, wear and tear, corrosion, erosion, moldiness, rottenness, moth and rust, dry rot, blight, marasmus, atrophy, collapse, disorganization, delabrement &c. (destruction), 162, aphid, aphis, plant louse, puceron, vinefretter, vinegrub, wreck, mere wreck, honeycomb, magni nominis umbra, jade, plug, rackabones, skate, tackey, tacky

V. be worse, be deteriorated, become worse, become deteriorated, have seen better days, deteriorate, degenerate, fall off, wane, ebb, retrograde - decline, droop, go down, go downhill, go from bad to worse, go farther and fare worse, jump out of the frying pan into the fire, run to seed, go to seed, run to waste swale|, sweal|, lapse, be the worse for, sphacelate, break, break down, spring a leak, crack, start, shrivel, fade, go off, wither, molder, rot, rankle, decay, go bad, go to decay, fall into decay, "fall into the sear and yellow leaf", rust, crumble, shake, totter, totter to its fall, perish, die, deteriorate, weaken, put back, set back, taint, infect, contaminate, poison, empoison, envenom, canker, corrupt, exulcerate|, pollute, vitiate, inquinate|, debase, embase|, denaturalize, denature, leaven, deflower, debauch, defile, deprave, degrade, ulcerate, stain, discolor, alloy, adulterate, sophisticate, tamper with, prejudice, pervert, prostitute, demoralize, brutalize, render vicious, embitter, acerbate, exacerbate, aggravate, injure, impair, labefy, damage, harm, hurt, shend|, scath|, scathe, spoil, mar, despoil, dilapidate, waste, overrun, ravage, pillage, wound, stab, pierce, maim, lame, surbate|, cripple, hough, hamstring, hit between wind and water, scotch, mangle, mutilate, disfigure, blemish, deface, warp, blight, rot, corrode, erode, wear away, wear out, gnaw, gnaw at the root of, sap, mine, undermine, shake, sap the foundations of, break up, disorganize, dismantle, dismast, destroy, damnify, do one's worst, knock down, deal a blow to, play havoc with, play sad havoc with, play the mischief with, play the deuce with, play the very devil with, play havoc among, play sad havoc among, play the mischief among, play the deuce among, play the very devil among, decimate

Adj. unimproved &c. (improve ), deteriorated, altered, altered for the worse, injured, sprung, withering, spoiling, on the wane, on the decline, tabid, degenerate, marescent, worse, the worse for, all the worse for, out of repair, out of tune, imperfect, the worse for wear, battered, weathered, weather-beaten, stale, passe, shaken, dilapidated, frayed, faded, wilted, shabby, secondhand, threadbare, worn, worn to a thread, worn to a shadow, worn to the stump, worn to rags, reduced, reduced to a skeleton, far gone, tacky, decayed, moth-eaten, worm-eaten, mildewed, rusty, moldy, spotted, seedy, time-worn, moss-grown, discolored, effete, wasted, crumbling, moldering, rotten, cankered, blighted, tainted, depraved, decrepid, decrepit, broke, busted, broken, out of commission, hors de combat, out of action, broken down, done, done for, done up, worn out, used up, finished, beyond saving, fit for the dust hole, fit for the wastepaper basket, past work, at a low ebb, in a bad way, on one's last legs, undermined, deciduous, nodding to its fall, tottering &c, (dangerous) 665: past cure, fatigued, retrograde, deleterious

Phr. out of the frying pan into the fire, agrescit medendo, "what a falling off was there!"