diminished
/di'miniʃt/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Made smaller or less in size, value, importance, or intensity: Describes something that has been reduced in some measurable or perceived way.
- (Music) Reduced by a semitone: Describes a perfect or minor musical interval that has been made smaller by one half-step.
- (Medicine/Biology) Decreased in size or function: Describes an organ or body part that has become smaller or weaker, often due to disease, injury, or lack of use.
Examples of Usage
- General Meaning (Reduced):
- The company's profits showed a diminished return this quarter.
- His influence in the committee has become greatly diminished.
- Music:
- The chord progression uses a diminished seventh chord for dramatic effect.
- A diminished fifth interval has a characteristically tense sound.
- Medical/Biological:
- After the stroke, the patient had diminished strength in her right arm.
- The X-ray revealed a diminished lung capacity.
Advanced Usage
- "Diminished responsibility" (Legal term): A defense where a person's mental capacity is argued to be substantially impaired, reducing their criminal liability.
- The defense entered a plea of diminished responsibility.
- "To hide one's diminished head" (Idiomatic): To withdraw in shame or embarrassment because one's authority or status has been reduced.
- After the scandal, the CEO had to hide his diminished head.
Variants and Related Words
- Diminish (verb): To make or become smaller or less.
- The pain should diminish over time.
- Diminution (noun): The act, process, or result of diminishing; reduction.
- The treaty led to a diminution of border tensions.
- Diminutive (adjective/noun): Extremely or unusually small; a word expressing smallness (e.g., "booklet").
- She lived in a diminutive cottage.
Synonyms
- Reduced: Made smaller or less.
- Decreased: Became or made less in amount, intensity, or degree.
- Lessened: Made smaller in size, amount, or degree.
- Atrophied (specifically for body parts): Wasted away or decreased in size/effectiveness.
Antonyms
- Increased: Made greater in size, amount, or degree.
- Enhanced: Intensified, increased, or improved in quality, value, or extent.
- Augmented: Made greater in size or value.
Related Phrases/Idioms
- A shadow of one's former self: Someone or something that is much less powerful, effective, or impressive than before.
- After the illness, he was a shadow of his former self, a man with diminished vitality.
Adjective
- made to seem smaller or less (especially in worth)
- her comments made me feel small
- (of musical intervals) reduction by a semitone of any perfect or minor musical interval
- a diminished fifth
- (of an organ or body part) diminished in size or strength as a result of disease or injury or lack of use
- partial paralysis resulted in an atrophied left arm
- impaired by diminution