declension

declension
/di klen"sheuhn/, n.
1. Gram.
a. the inflection of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives for categories such as case and number.
b. the whole set of inflected forms of such a word, or the recital thereof in a fixed order.
c. a class of such words having similar sets of inflected forms: the Latin second declension.
2. an act or instance of declining.
3. a bending, sloping, or moving downward: land with a gentle declension toward the sea.
4. deterioration; decline.
5. deviation, as from a standard.
[1400-50; late ME declenson, declynson (with suffix later assimilated to -SION), by stress retraction and syncope < OF declinaison < L declinatio DECLINATION]

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Declension — De*clen sion, n. [Apparently corrupted fr. F. d[ e]clinaison, fr. L. declinatio, fr. declinare. See {Decline}, and cf. {Declination}.] 1. The act or the state of declining; declination; descent; slope. [1913 Webster] The declension of the land… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • declension — index curtailment, decrease, decrement, degradation, deterioration, rejection, relapse Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Bur …   Law dictionary

  • declension — mid 15c., ultimately from L. declinationem (nom. declinatio), noun of action from pp. stem of declinare (see DECLINE (Cf. decline)); perhaps via French; the form is irregular, and its history obscure [OED] …   Etymology dictionary

  • declension — decline, decadence, *deterioration, degeneration, devolution Analogous words: decaying or decay, disintegration, crumbling (see corresponding verbs at DECAY): retrogressiveness or retrogression, regressiveness or regression (see corresponding… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • declension — ► NOUN 1) the variation of the form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective that identifies its grammatical case, number, and gender. 2) the class to which a noun or adjective is assigned according to this variation. ORIGIN from Old French decliner to… …   English terms dictionary

  • declension — [dē klen′shən, diklen′shən] n. [ME declenson < OFr declinaison < L declinatio, a bending aside, inflection (< pp. of declinare: see DECLINE): ME form infl. by assoc. with L descensio, a descending: see DESCEND] 1. a bending or sloping… …   English World dictionary

  • Declension — In linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number (at least singular and plural), case (nominative or subjective, genitive or possessive, etc.), and gender. A declension is also a group… …   Wikipedia

  • declension — noun /dɪˈklɛn.ʃən/ a) A way of categorizing nouns, pronouns, or adjectives according to the inflections they receive. In Latin, amicus belongs to the second declension. Most second declension nouns end in i in the genitive singular and um in the… …   Wiktionary

  • declension — n. an adjective; noun; strong; weak declension * * * [dɪ klenʃ(ə)n] noun strong weak declension an adjective …   Combinatory dictionary

  • declension — UK [dɪˈklenʃ(ə)n] / US [dɪˈklenʃən] noun Word forms declension : singular declension plural declensions linguistics 1) [uncountable] the process by which the form of nouns, adjectives, or pronouns changes in some languages depending on their… …   English dictionary

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