verb · neutral
diminish
/dɪˈmɪnɪʃ/di·MIN·ish
Band 6-7speakingtask2
to make or become less in size, importance, or intensity
Examples
“Public trust can diminish quickly if officials are seen as dishonest.”
“Policies that ignore minorities may diminish social cohesion.”
“In Part 2 describe how a development diminished the quality of life in your town.”
Band 8 sentence
“Efforts to reform the system will not succeed unless they also address the factors that diminish public confidence.”
Collocations
- diminish the importance
- diminish over time
Word family
diminution noundiminished adjective
Common mistakes
use 'decrease' in all contexts→diminish
Say it for a higher band
5lessen→6reduce→7+diminish
Synonyms
reduce
Easily confused
diminish vs decrease
“Her influence has diminished over the years.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In Sublist 10
Learn it with its set