Tend vs Decline - What's the difference?
tend | decline |
(legal, Old English law) To make a tender of; to offer or tender.
(followed by a to infinitive) To be likely, or probable to do something, or to have a certain characteristic.
(with to) To look after (e.g. an ill person.)
To accompany as an assistant or protector; to care for the wants of; to look after; to watch; to guard.
* Emerson
To wait (upon), as attendants or servants; to serve; to attend.
* Shakespeare
(obsolete) To await; to expect.
(obsolete) To be attentive to; to note carefully; to attend to.
* Chapman
(nautical) To manage (an anchored vessel) when the tide turns, to prevent it from entangling the cable when swinging.
Downward movement, fall.(rfex)
A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.(rfex)
(senseid)A weakening.(rfex)
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
, author=Philip E. Mirowski
, title=Harms to Health from the Pursuit of Profits
, volume=100, issue=1, page=87
, magazine=
A reduction or diminution of activity.
*
To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
To become weaker or worse.
To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
* Thomson
* Spenser
To cause to decrease or diminish.
* Beaumont and Fletcher
* Burton
To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.
* Bible, Psalms cxix. 157
To refuse, forbear.
* Massinger
* , chapter=7
, title= To inflect for case, number and sometimes gender.
* Ascham
(by extension) To run through from first to last; to repeat like a schoolboy declining a noun.
(American football) To reject a penalty against the opposing team, usually because the result of accepting it would benefit the non-penalized team less than the preceding play.
As verbs the difference between tend and decline
is that tend is to kindle; ignite; set on fire; light; inflame; burn or tend can be (legal|old english law) to make a tender of; to offer or tender or tend can be (with to) to look after (eg an ill person) while decline is .As an adjective decline is
declined.tend
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) tenden, from (etyl) . Related to (l).Alternative forms
* (l), (l), (l), (l), (l) * (l), (l), (l), (l) (Scotland)Derived terms
* (l), (l)Etymology 2
From (etyl) *.Verb
(en verb)- They tend to go out on Saturdays.
- It tends to snow here in winter.
Usage notes
* In sense 2. this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. * SeeDerived terms
* tendencySee also
* be given toEtymology 3
From (etyl) . More at (l).Verb
(en verb)- We need to tend to the garden, which has become a mess.
- Shepherds tend their flocks.
- There's not a sparrow or a wren, / There's not a blade of autumn grain, / Which the four seasons do not tend / And tides of life and increase lend.
- Was he not companion with the riotous knights / That tend upon my father?
- (Shakespeare)
- Being to descend / A ladder much in height, I did not tend / My way well down.
External links
* * *Anagrams
* ----decline
English
Noun
(en noun)citation, passage=In an era when political leaders promise deliverance from decline through America’s purported preeminence in scientific research, the news that science is in deep trouble in the United States has been as unwelcome as a diagnosis of leukemia following the loss of health insurance.}}
- It is also pertinent to note that the current obvious decline in work on holarctic hepatics most surely reflects a current obsession with cataloging and with nomenclature of the organisms—as divorced from their study as living entities.
Antonyms
* inclineVerb
(declin)- in melancholy deep, with head declined
- And now fair Phoebus gan decline in haste / His weary wagon to the western vale.
- You have declined his means.
- He knoweth his error, but will not seek to decline it.
- a line that declines from straightness
- conduct that declines from sound morals
- Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.
- Could I decline this dreadful hour?
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=“[…] This is Mr. Churchill, who, as you are aware, is good enough to come to us for his diaconate, and, as we hope, for much longer; and being a gentleman of independent means, he declines to take any payment.” Saying this Walden rubbed his hands together and smiled contentedly.}}
- after the first declining of a noun and a verb
- (Shakespeare)
- The team chose to decline the fifteen-yard penalty because their receiver had caught the ball for a thirty-yard gain.