different between dwindle vs depreciate

English

Etymology

Frequentative form of dwine, from Middle English dwinen, from Old English dw?nan (“to waste away”), equivalent to dwine +? -le, akin to Old Norse dvena/dvína (Danish tvine (“to pine away”), Dutch verdwijnen (“to disappear, dwindle”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?dw?n.d?l/
• Rhymes: -?nd?l

Verb

dwindle (third-person singular simple present dwindles, present participle dwindling, simple past and past participle dwindled)

1. (intransitive) To decrease, shrink, diminish, reduce in size or intensity.
   • 1802, T. Paynell (translator), Erasmus, The Complaint of Peace

     [E]very thing that was improving gradually degenerates and dwindles away to nothing, […]

2. (intransitive, figuratively) To fall away in quality; degenerate, sink.
   • 1766, Oliver Goldsmith, Vicar, III

     The flattery of his friends began to dwindle into simple approbation.

   • 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress

     The larger the empire, the more dwindles the mind of the citizen.
3. (transitive) To lessen; to bring low.

   • Our drooping days are dwindled down to nought.

4. To break up or disperse.

Derived terms

Translations

References

Anagrams

• windled

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin depretiare, depretiatus, from de- + pretium (“price”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??p?i???e?t/

Verb

depreciate (third-person singular simple present depreciates, present participle depreciating, simple past and past participle depreciated)

1. (transitive) To lessen in price or estimated value; to lower the worth of.
   • 1678, Ralph Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe

     […] which […] some over-severe philosophers may look upon fastidiously, or undervalue and depreciate.

   • 1 December, 1783, Edmund Burke, speech on Fox's East India Bill

     To prove that the Americans ought not to be free, we are obliged to depreciate the value of freedom itself.

2. (intransitive) To decline in value over time.
3. (transitive) To belittle or disparage.

Usage notes

• Do not confuse with deprecate (“to disapprove of”). The meaning of deprecate has lately been encroaching on depreciate in the sense 'to belittle'.

Synonyms

• (reduce in value over time):
• (belittle): do down

Antonyms

• (reduce in value over time): appreciate
• (belittle): aggrandise/aggrandize, big up (slang)

Translations

Anagrams

• etacepride