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decrement

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decrement

 

  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  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. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  decrement 
  n  1:  the  amount  by  which  something  decreases  [syn:  {decrease}] 
  [ant:  {increase}] 
  2:  a  process  of  becoming  smaller  [syn:  {decrease}]  [ant:  {increase}, 
  {increase}]




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