declension
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English declenson, from Middle French declinaison (Modern French: déclinaison), from Latin dēclīnātiō. Doublet of declination.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
declension (countable and uncountable, plural declensions)
- A falling off, decay or descent.
- 1845, Lydia Sigourney, Scenes in my Native Land, The Great Oak of Geneseo, page 86:
- Refinement of feeling, intellectual tastes, and a noble hospitality, were among the features of his character; and hoary years brought no mental declension, and drew no shade over the ardent affections by which he was distinguished, and in whose reciprocity, was his undeclining solace.
- 1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 2, page 268:
- The custom of rolling a burning wheel down a hill […] might well pass for an imitation of the sun's course in the sky, and the imitation would be especially appropriate on Midsummer Day when the sun's annual declension begins.
- (grammar) The act of declining a word; the act of listing the inflections of a noun, pronoun or adjective in order.
- (grammar) The product of that act; a list of declined forms.
- a page full of declensions
- (grammar) 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 accusative singular.
Synonyms edit
Hypernyms edit
Hyponyms edit
- first declension
- fourth declension
- second declension
- strong declension
- third declension
- weak declension
- mixed declension
Coordinate terms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
act
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way of categorizing
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