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Diminution, as of trade, etc.; inactivity; dullness.

That which injures or causes damage; mischief; harm; diminution; loss; damage; -- used very generically; as, detriments to property, religion, morals, etc. I can repair That detriment, if such it be. Milton.

Diminution of swelling; subsidence of anything swollen. [R.] Cudworth.

Diminution. [R.] Cheke.

Indicating or causing diminution. Earle.

Indicating diminution; diminutive. "Diminutival forms" [of words]. Earle. -- n.

Expressing diminution; as, a diminutive word.

urious comparison with an inferior; a depreciating or dishonoring opinion or insinuation; diminution of value; dishonor; indignity; reproach; disgrace; detraction; -- commonly with to. It ought to be no disparagement to a star that it is not the sun. South. Imitation is a disparagement and a degradation in a Christian…

An unlawful diminution of the possessions of another.

Diminution or decrease in price or value; depreciation; as, the fall of prices; the fall of rents.

Quite; to the same degree; without abatement or diminution; with the whole force or effect; thoroughly; completely; exactly; entirely. The pawn I proffer shall be full as good. Dryden. The diapason closing full in man. Dryden. Full in the center of the sacred wood. Addison.

Dimness or abolition of sight, with a diminution of transparency, a bluish or greenish tinge of the refracting media of the eye, and a hard inelastic condition of the eyeball, with marked increase of tension within the eyeball.

A diminution in the normal amount of fibrin present in the blood.

A lessening; diminution; decrease. [R.] Ray.

Diminution; injury. [Obs.]

A diminution or softening of statement for the sake of avoiding censure or increasing the effect by contrast with the moderation shown in the form of expression; as, " a citizen of no mean city," that is, of an illustrious city.

To cease to have; to possess no longer; to suffer diminution of; as, to lose one's relish for anything; to lose one's health. If the salt hath lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted Matt. v. 13.

Destruction or diminution of value, if brought about in a manner provided for in the insurance contract (as destruction by fire or wreck, damage by water or smoke), or the death or injury of an insured person; also, the sum paid or payable therefor; as, the losses of the company this year amount to a million of dollars…

Diminution; a species of hyperbole, representing a thing as being less than it really is.

ion of molecules constituting a structural particle of protoplasm, capable of increase or diminution without change in chemical nature.