lessen decrease

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• lessen — *decrease, diminish, reduce, abate, dwindle Analogous words: *shorten, curtail, retrench, abridge, abbreviate: shrink, *contract: lighten, mitigate, alleviate (see RELIEVE): *thin, dilute, attenuate …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

• decrease — vb Decrease, lessen, diminish, reduce, abate, dwindle denote to make or grow less, but they are not freely interchangeable. Decrease and lessen are often employed in place of any of the others. Decrease normally retains, even in the transitive,… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

• decrease — I noun abatement, abbreviation, abridgment, alleviation, attenuation, constriction, contraction, curtailment, cut, cutback, deceleration, declension, declination, decline, decline and fall, decrement, decrescence, deduction, deflation, deminutio …   Law dictionary

• Lessen — Less en (l[e^]s n), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Lessened} ( nd); p. pr. & vb. n. {Lessening}.] [From {Less}, a.] To make less; to reduce; to make smaller, or fewer; to diminish; to lower; to degrade; as, to lessen a kingdom, or a population; to lessen… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

• lessen — I verb abate, abbreviate, abridge, abstract, adulterate, allay, alleviate, assuage, attenuate, bate, belittle, boil down, calumniate, censure, check, compress, condense, contract, curb, curtail, cut, cut down, decimate, decline, decrease, decry,… …   Law dictionary

• lessen — [les′ən] vt. 1. to make less; decrease 2. Archaic to belittle; minimize; disparage vi. to become less SYN. DECREASE …   English World dictionary

• decrease — [dē krēs′, dikrēs′; ] also, & for n. usually [, dē′krēs΄] vi., vt. decreased, decreasing [ME decresen < OFr decreistre < L decrescere < de , from, away + crescere, grow: see CRESCENT] to become or cause to become less, smaller, etc.;… …   English World dictionary

• decrease — [n] diminishing, lessening abatement, compression, condensation, constriction, contraction, cutback, decline, declining, decrescence, depression, diminution, discount, downturn, dwindling, ebb, falling off, loss, reduction, shrinkage, striction,… …   New thesaurus

• Lessen — Less en, v. i. To become less; to shrink; to contract; to decrease; to be diminished; as, the apparent magnitude of objects lessens as we recede from them; his care, or his wealth, lessened. [1913 Webster] The objection lessens much, and comes to …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

• lessen — [v] lower, reduce abate, abridge, amputate, attenuate, become smaller, clip, close, contract, crop, curtail, cut, cut back, decline, decrease, de escalate, degrade, die down, dilute, diminish, downsize, drain, dwindle, ease, erode, grow less,… …   New thesaurus

• lessen / lesson —    Lessen means to decrease or make less : She lessened the headache pain with aspirin.    A lesson is something you learn: A teacher might say, Today s lesson is about ancient Egypt …   Confused words