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Ebb vs Decrease - What's the difference?

ebb | decrease |

In lang=en terms the difference between ebb and decrease

is that ebb is to cause to flow back while decrease is to make (a quantity) smaller.

As nouns the difference between ebb and decrease

is that ebb is the receding movement of the tide while decrease is an amount by which a quantity is decreased.

As verbs the difference between ebb and decrease

is that ebb is to flow back or recede while decrease is of a quantity, to become smaller.

As an adjective ebb

is low, shallow.

ebb

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The receding movement of the tide.
    • The boats will go out on the ebb .
  • * (rfdate) Shelley
    • Thou shoreless flood which in thy ebb and flow / Claspest the limits of morality!
  • A gradual decline.
  • * (rfdate) Roscommon
    • Thus all the treasure of our flowing years, / Our ebb of life for ever takes away.
  • A low state; a state of depression.
  • * (rfdate) Dryden
    • Painting was then at its lowest ebb .
  • * 2002 , (Joyce Carol Oates), The New Yorker , 22 & 29 April
    • A "lowest ebb'" implies something singular and finite, but for many of us, born in the Depression and raised by parents distrustful of fortune, an "' ebb " might easily have lasted for years.
  • A European bunting, .

    • Derived terms

    * ebb and flow * ebb tide

    Antonyms

    * flood * flow

    Related terms

    * tide

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to flow back or recede
    • The tides ebbed at noon .
  • to fall away or decline
    • The dying man's strength ebbed away .
  • to fish with stakes and nets that serve to prevent the fish from getting back into the sea with the ebb
  • To cause to flow back.
    • (Ford)

    Synonyms

    ebb away, ebb down, ebb off, ebb out, reflux, wane

    Adjective

    (er)
  • low, shallow
    • The water there is otherwise very low and ebb . (Holland)
    ----

    decrease

    English

    Verb

    (decreas)
  • Of a quantity, to become smaller.
  • To make (a quantity) smaller.

    • Synonyms

    * (become smaller) drop, fall, go down, plummet (rapidly), plunge (rapidly), reduce, shrink, sink * (make smaller) abate, cut, decrement, lower, reduce

    Antonyms

    * (become larger) go up, grow, increase, rise, soar (rapidly), shoot up (rapidly) * (make larger) increase, increment, raise, up (informal)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An amount by which a quantity is decreased.
  • (knitting) A reduction in the number of stitches, usually accomplished by suspending the stitch to be decreased from another existing stitch or by knitting it together with another stitch. See .

    • Synonyms

    * (amount by which a quantity is decreased) cut, decrement, drop, fall, loss, lowering, reduction, shrinkage

    Antonyms

    * (amount by which a quantity is decreased) gain, increase, increment, raise , rise

    Anagrams

    * English ergative verbs English heteronyms 1000 English basic words