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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

dec·re·ment

Audio Help [dek-ruh-muh

nt] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	the act or process of decreasing; gradual reduction.

2.	the amount lost by reduction.

3.	Mathematics. a negative increment.

4.	Physics. the ratio of amplitudes of a damped harmonic motion in the course of two successive oscillations.

[Origin: 1475–85; < L décrémentum, equiv. to décré(tus) (see decrease) + -mentum -ment

]

—Related forms

dec·re·men·tal

Audio Help [dek-ruh-men-tl] Pronunciation Key, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
decrement

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

dec·re·ment Audio Help (děk'rə-mənt) Pronunciation Key
n.

The act or process of decreasing or becoming gradually less.
The amount lost by gradual diminution or waste.
Mathematics The amount by which a variable is decreased; a negative increment.

[Latin dēcrēmentum, from dēcrēscere, dēcrē-, to decrease; see decrease.]

dec're·ment'al (-měn'tl) adj.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

decrement
noun
1.	the amount by which something decreases [syn: decrease] [ant: increase]
2.	a process of becoming smaller or shorter [syn: decrease] [ant: growth]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Decrement

Dec"re*ment\, n. [L. decrementum, fr. decrescere. See Decrease.]

1. The state of becoming gradually less; decrease; diminution; waste; loss.

Twit me with the decrements of my pendants. --Ford.

Rocks, mountains, and the other elevations of the earth suffer a continual decrement. --Woodward.

2. The quantity lost by gradual diminution or waste; -- opposed to increment.

3. (Crystallog.) A name given by Ha["u]y to the successive diminution of the layers of molecules, applied to the faces of the primitive form, by which he supposed the secondary forms to be produced.

4. (Math.) The quantity by which a variable is diminished.

Equal decrement of life. (a) The decrease of life in a group of persons in which the assumed law of mortality is such that of a given large number of persons, all being now of the same age, an equal number shall die each consecutive year. (b) The decrease of life in a group of persons in which the assumed law of mortality is such that the ratio of those dying in a year to those living through the year is constant, being independent of the age of the persons.

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