Synonyms:
decrease, diminish, lessen, fall
Meaning: decrease in size, extent, or range; "The amount of homework decreased towards the end of the semester"; "The cabin pressure fell dramatically"; "her weight fell to under a hundred pounds"; "his voice fell to a whisper"
Synonyms:
decrease, lessen, minify
Meaning: make smaller; "He decreased his staff"
Synonyms:
subside, lessen
Meaning: wear off or die down; "The pain subsided"
Usage examples
In fact, my tuition was expected to offset the school's milk bill, yet that did not lessen my enthusiasm.
'Never mind my name,' answered she, 'but rejoice that it is permitted to me to show you a way to lessen your grief.
When I first saw you I thought that you would be a fit companion for her here--that you would lessen her gloom, and that she would be pleasant to you.
He introduced several fresh terms into these perturbations, but none of them of sufficient magnitude to do more than slightly lessen the unexplained perturbations.
Each screw requires a separate set of engines and the main object of the duplication is to lessen the risk of the vessel being left helpless in case of accident to one or other.
To these disorders it must be added, that the emperor, seeing himself attacked on so many sides, to lessen the number of his enemies, began to treat first with the Vandals, then with the Franks; a course which diminished his own power, and increased that of the barbarians.
When applied to this object, the saying is as just as it is witty, that, "in political arithmetic, two and two do not always make four." If duties are too high, they lessen the consumption; the collection is eluded; and the product to the treasury is not so great as when they are confined within proper and moderate bounds.
To carry out this law to the best advantage in regard to platina, etc., then with a given length of wire to quadruple the heat we must lessen the radiating surface to one-quarter, and to do this in a spiral, three-quarters must be within the spiral and one-quarter outside for radiating; hence, a square wire or other means, such as a spiral within a spiral, must be used.