DECLENSION

declension

(noun) 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”

descent, declivity, fall, decline, declination, declension, downslope

(noun) a downward slope or bend

deterioration, decline in quality, declension, worsening

(noun) process of changing to an inferior state

declension

(noun) the inflection of nouns and pronouns and adjectives in Indo-European languages

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

declension (countable and uncountable, plural declensions)

A falling off, decay or descent.

(grammar) The act of declining a word; the act of listing the inflections of a noun, pronoun or adjective in order.

(grammar) A way of categorizing nouns, pronouns, or adjectives according to the inflections they receive.

Synonyms

• declination

Hypernyms

• flection, flexion, inflection, inflexion, accidence

Hyponyms

• strong declension

• weak declension

• mixed declension

Coordinate terms

• conjugation

Anagrams

• indolences, insolenced, second line

Source: Wiktionary

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De*clen"sion, n. Etym: [Apparently corrupted fr. F. déclinaison, 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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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