Other forms: diminutions
A diminution is a making or becoming smaller. A diminution in numbers, no diminution of effort, a slight diminution.
It is the formal noun for a decrease and takes in or of after it. In music it names a passage repeated in shorter notes, which is the plain sense applied to time.
1noundiminutionA making or becoming smaller.
“There was no diminution in the noise as the evening wore on.”
diminution is a decrease.
Latin diminutio comes from deminuere, to lessen, from de plus minuere, to make smaller.
Latin
dīminūtiō
Old French
diminucion
Anglo-Norman
diminuciun
Middle English
diminucioun
English, today
diminution
From Middle English diminucioun, from Anglo-Norman diminuciun, Old French diminucion, from Latin dīminūtiō.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA