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Declension - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
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Declension : (noun)
1: the inflection of nouns and pronouns and adjectives in
Indo-European languages
2: process of changing to an inferior state [syn: deterioration,
decline in quality, worsening]
3: a downward slope or bend [syn: descent, declivity, fall,
decline, declination, downslope] [ant: ascent]
4: a class of nouns or pronouns or adjectives in Indo-European
languages having the same (or very similar) inflectional
forms; "the first declension in Latin"
Based on WordNet 2.0
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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.
The declension of the land from that place to the
sea. --T. Burnet.
2. A falling off towards a worse state; a downward tendency;
deterioration; decay; as, the declension of virtue, of
science, of a state, etc.
Seduced the pitch and height of all his thoughts To
base declension. --Shak.
3. Act of courteously refusing; act of declining; a
declinature; refusal; as, the declension of a nomination.
4. (Gram.)
(a) Inflection of nouns, adjectives, etc., according to
the grammatical cases.
(b) The form of the inflection of a word declined by
cases; as, the first or the second declension of
nouns, adjectives, etc.
(c) Rehearsing a word as declined.
Note: The nominative was held to be the primary and original
form, and was likened to a perpendicular line; the
variations, or oblique cases, were regarded as fallings
(hence called casus, cases, or fallings) from the
nominative or perpendicular; and an enumerating of the
various forms, being a sort of progressive descent from
the noun's upright form, was called a declension.
--Harris.
Declension of the needle, declination of the needle.
Based on WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003)
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