Verb

(es)

To make smaller.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-12-14

, author=Simon Jenkins, authorlink=Simon Jenkins, volume=188, issue=2, page=23 , date=2012-12-21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys , passage=The threat of terrorism to the British lies in the overreaction to it of British governments. Each one in turn clicks up the ratchet of surveillance, intrusion and security. Each one diminishes liberty.}}

To become smaller.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Old soldiers? , passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine.

To lessen the authority or dignity of; to put down; to degrade; to abase; to weaken.

* Robynson (More's Utopia)

This doth nothing diminish their opinion.

* Bible, Ezekiel xxix. 15

I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.

* Milton

O thou at whose sight all the stars / Hide their diminished heads.

To taper.

To disappear gradually.

To take away; to subtract.

* Bible, Deuteronomy iv. 2

Neither shall ye diminish aught from it.

(music) To reduce a perfect or minor interval by a semitone.

Verb

(degrad)

To lower in value or social position.

Fred degrades himself by his behaviour.

* Palfrey

Prynne was sentenced by the Star Chamber Court to be degraded from the bar.

To reduce in quality or purity.

The DNA sample has degraded .

(geology) To reduce in altitude or magnitude, as hills and mountains; to wear down.