declinations

noun

plural of declination
1
as in deteriorations
a change to a lower state or level there's been a declination in basic civility in our society

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in refusals
an unwillingness to grant something asked for congressional declinations of cabinet appointments have been relatively infrequent, most senators believing that the president is entitled to pick his own advisors

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of declinations The declinations came as the DOJ reassigned and cut prosecutors working on environmental cases. — Ken B. Morales, ProPublica, 31 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for declinations
  1. deteriorations
  2. refusals
  3. declines
  4. rejections
  5. degradations
  6. denials
  7. descents
Noun
  • Similar deteriorations took place in Tuscany and in Naples.
    — Britannica Editors, Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 Mar. 2026
Definition of deteriorations
Noun
  • Shirley lingered in parking lots and asked to enter childcare centers, taking refusals as evidence that the centers weren’t actually caring for children.
    — Mia Sato, The Verge, 20 Oct. 2026
  • The character is written to be very likable and worthy of respect, and Jodie Whittaker brings a really effective extra oomph of warmth and humor to her performance that makes her consistent refusals to accept Kate’s proposals even more striking.
    — Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of refusals
Noun
  • In another set of studies, adults who made more frequent and extreme upward comparisons reported an immediate decline in self-evaluation and cumulative declines in self-esteem and life satisfaction over a browsing session.
    — Ashwini Nadkarni, Time, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Negative divergences alone don't necessarily lead to immediate declines.
    — Frank Cappelleri, CNBC, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of declines
Noun
  • Long before launch, the team faced obstacles that nearly thwarted the endeavor — chiefly, two rejections from NASA — before finally securing the green light for the $1 billion project under the New Frontiers Program in 2011.
    — Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 20 Oct. 2026
  • An impasse was called in early September, in part, after SEIU Local 1000 expressed frustrations about mass proposal rejections.
    — Corey Schmidt, Sacbee.com, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of rejections
Noun
  • Key parameters such as time to recover (TTR), revenue at risk, lead times, OTIF and service-level degradations can be evaluated and compared across mitigation options.
    — Dileep Rai, Forbes.com, 12 Mar. 2026
  • The answer is not much—Fennell makes explicit, via sadomasochism, the power differentials and emotional degradations that are so often ambiguous in the original.
    — Rhian Sasseen, The Atlantic, 10 Mar. 2026
Definition of degradations
Noun
  • Roy, who has been part of negotiations since 2014, said he’s never seen denials like that before.
    — Corey Schmidt, Sacbee.com, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Collins followed up Ossoff’s presidential ambition denials on the debate stage by claiming the Democrat is playing the long game and would ultimately seek the White House.
    — Claire Carter, The Washington Examiner, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of denials
Noun
  • He was hailed as the first successful parachutist and went on to make some 200 additional descents.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 5 Oct. 2026
  • But the paint allegedly became slippery in the sun, and three riders, including one known as a master of descents, crashed.
    — Eric Klinenberg, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of descents

Browse Nearby Words

declination
declinations
decline
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Declinations.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/declinations. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of milieu

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All