Fall vs. Decline — What's the Difference?

Move from a higher to a lower level, typically rapidly and without control

(typically of something regarded as good) become smaller, fewer, or less; decrease

(of a person) lose one's balance and collapse

Politely refuse (an invitation or offer)

Decrease in number, amount, intensity, or quality

(especially of the sun) move downwards

Be captured or defeated

(in the grammar of Latin, Greek, and certain other languages) state the forms of (a noun, pronoun, or adjective) corresponding to case, number, and gender.

Pass into a specified state, situation, or position

A gradual and continuous loss of strength, numbers, quality, or value

An act of falling or collapsing

To express polite refusal

A thing which falls or has fallen

To slope downward; descend

A decrease in size, number, rate, or level

To bend downward; droop

A defeat or downfall

To degrade or lower oneself; stoop

Autumn

To deteriorate gradually; fail

A flock of woodcock

To sink, as the setting sun.

To drop or come down freely under the influence of gravity

To draw to a gradual close

To drop oneself to a lower or less erect position

To refuse politely

To lose an upright or erect position suddenly

Downward movement, fall.en

To drop wounded or dead, especially in battle.

A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.en

To hang down

A weakening.en

To be cast down

A reduction or diminution of activity.

To be directed toward or come into contact; rest

The act of declining or refusing something.

To come into existence or occur as if by falling

(intransitive) To move downwards, to fall, to drop.

To occur at a specified time or place

(intransitive) To become weaker or worse.

To be removed as if by falling

(transitive) To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.

To come forth as if by falling; issue

(transitive) To cause to decrease or diminish.

To assume an expression of consternation or disappointment

To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.

To undergo conquest or capture, especially as the result of an armed attack

(transitive) To choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain.

To experience defeat or ruin

To inflect for case, number, gender, and the like.

To lose office

To recite all the different declined forms of (a word).

To move downward to a lower level; be reduced

(by extension) To run through from first to last; to recite in order as though declining a noun.

To slope downward

To reject a penalty against the opposing team, usually because the result of accepting it would benefit the non-penalized team less than the preceding play.

To become less in amount or degree

To bend, or lean downward; to take a downward direction; to bend over or hang down, as from weakness, weariness, despondency, etc.; to condescend.

To diminish in pitch or volume

To tend or draw towards a close, decay, or extinction; to tend to a less perfect state; to become diminished or impaired; to fail; to sink; to diminish; to lessen; as, the day declines; virtue declines; religion declines; business declines.

To decline in financial value

To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw; as, a line that declines from straightness; conduct that declines from sound morals.

To give into temptation; suffer a moral lapse.

To turn away; to shun; to refuse; - the opposite of accept or consent; as, he declined, upon principle.

(Theology) To lose primordial innocence and happiness. Used of humanity as a result of the Fall.

To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.

To pass into a particular state, condition, or situation

To cause to decrease or diminish.

To come, as by chance

To put or turn aside; to turn off or away from; to refuse to undertake or comply with; reject; to shun; to avoid; as, to decline an offer; to decline a contest; he declined any participation with them.

To be given by assignment or distribution

To inflect, or rehearse in order the changes of grammatical form of; as, to decline a noun or an adjective.

To be given by right or inheritance.

To run through from first to last; to repeat like a schoolboy declining a noun.

To be included within the range or scope of something

A falling off; a tendency to a worse state; diminution or decay; deterioration; also, the period when a thing is tending toward extinction or a less perfect state; as, the decline of life; the decline of strength; the decline of virtue and religion.

To apply oneself

That period of a disorder or paroxysm when the symptoms begin to abate in violence; as, the decline of a fever.

To be born. Used chiefly of lambs.

A gradual sinking and wasting away of the physical faculties; any wasting disease, esp. pulmonary consumption; as, to die of a decline.

To cut down (a tree); fell.

Change toward something smaller or lower

The act or an instance of falling.

A condition inferior to an earlier condition; a gradual falling off from a better state

A sudden drop from a relatively erect to a less erect position.

A gradual decrease; as of stored charge or current

Something that has fallen

A downward slope or bend

An amount that has fallen

Grow worse;

The distance that something falls

Refuse to accept;

Autumn.

Show unwillingness towards;

Falls(used with a sing. or pl. verb) A waterfall.

Grow smaller;

A downward movement or slope.

Go down;

A veil hung from a hat and down the wearer's back.

Go down in value;

An ornamental cascade of lace or trimming attached to a dress, usually at the collar.

Inflect for number, gender, case, etc.,

A hairpiece with long, free-hanging hair.

An overthrow; a collapse

Armed capture of a place under siege

A reduction in value, amount, or degree

A marked, often sudden, decline in status, rank, or importance

A moral lapse.

Often Fall(Theology)The loss of humanity's original innocence and happiness resulting from Adam and Eve's eating of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.

The act of holding a wrestling opponent on the opponent's back so that the shoulders remain in contact with the mat for a designated period, usually one or two seconds, thereby winning the match. Also called pin.

Any of various wrestling maneuvers resulting in such an act.

A break or rise in the level of a deck.

Falls The apparatus used to hoist and transfer cargo or lifeboats.

The end of a cable, rope, or chain that is pulled by the power source in hoisting.

The birth of an animal, especially a lamb.

All the animals born at one birth; a litter.

A family of woodcock in flight.

(Botany) One of the outer, drooping segments of a flower, especially an iris.

Of, having to do with, occurring in, or appropriate to the season of fall

Grown during the season of fall

To be moved downwards.

To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity.

To come down, to drop or descend.

To come as if by dropping down.

To come to the ground deliberately, to prostrate oneself.

To be brought to the ground.

(transitive) To move downwards.

(obsolete) To let fall; to drop.

(obsolete) To sink; to depress.

To fell; to cut down.

(intransitive) To change, often negatively.

To become.

(intransitive) To collapse; to be overthrown or defeated.

To die, especially in battle or by disease.

(intransitive) To become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc.).

To occur (on a certain day of the week, date, or similar); to happen.

(intransitive) To be allotted to; to arrive through chance, fate, or inheritance.

To diminish; to lessen or lower.

To bring forth.

To issue forth into life; to be brought forth; said of the young of certain animals.

(intransitive) To descend in character or reputation; to become degraded; to sink into vice, error, or sin.

(intransitive) To become ensnared or entrapped; to be worse off than before.

(intransitive) To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or appear dejected; said of the face.

(intransitive) To happen; to come to pass; to chance or light (upon).

(intransitive) To begin with haste, ardour, or vehemence; to rush or hurry.

(intransitive) To be dropped or uttered carelessly.

To hang down under the influence of gravity.

The act of moving to a lower position under the effect of gravity.

A reduction in quantity, pitch, etc.

The time of the year when the leaves typically fall from the trees; autumn; the season of the year between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice.

A loss of greatness or status.

That which falls or cascades.

(sport) A crucial event or circumstance.

The action of a batsman being out.

(curling) A defect in the ice which causes stones thrown into an area to drift in a given direction.

(wrestling) An instance of a wrestler being pinned to the mat.

A hairpiece for women consisting of long strands of hair on a woven backing, intended primarily to cover hair loss.

Blame or punishment for a failure or misdeed.

(nautical) The part of the rope of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting (usu. plural).

An old Scots unit of measure equal to six ells.

A short, flexible piece of leather forming part of a bullwhip, placed between the thong and the cracker.

The lid, on a piano, that covers the keyboard

(nautical) The chasing of a hunted whale.

(nautical) The cry given when a whale is sighted, or harpooned.

To Descend, either suddenly or gradually; particularly, to descend by the force of gravity; to drop; to sink; as, the apple falls; the tide falls; the mercury falls in the barometer.

To cease to be erect; to take suddenly a recumbent posture; to become prostrate; to drop; as, a child totters and falls; a tree falls; a worshiper falls on his knees.

To find a final outlet; to discharge its waters; to empty; - with into; as, the river Rhone falls into the Mediterranean.

To become prostrate and dead; to die; especially, to die by violence, as in battle.

To cease to be active or strong; to die away; to lose strength; to subside; to become less intense; as, the wind falls.

To issue forth into life; to be brought forth; - said of the young of certain animals.

To decline in power, glory, wealth, or importance; to become insignificant; to lose rank or position; to decline in weight, value, price etc.; to become less; as, the price falls; stocks fell two points.

To be overthrown or captured; to be destroyed.

To descend in character or reputation; to become degraded; to sink into vice, error, or sin; to depart from the faith; to apostatize; to sin.

To become insnared or embarrassed; to be entrapped; to be worse off than before; as, to fall into error; to fall into difficulties.

To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or appear dejected; - said of the countenance.

To sink; to languish; to become feeble or faint; as, our spirits rise and fall with our fortunes.

To pass somewhat suddenly, and passively, into a new state of body or mind; to become; as, to fall asleep; to fall into a passion; to fall in love; to fall into temptation.

To happen; to to come to pass; to light; to befall; to issue; to terminate.

To come; to occur; to arrive.

To begin with haste, ardor, or vehemence; to rush or hurry; as, they fell to blows.

To pass or be transferred by chance, lot, distribution, inheritance, or otherwise; as, the estate fell to his brother; the kingdom fell into the hands of his rivals.

To belong or appertain.

To be dropped or uttered carelessly; as, an unguarded expression fell from his lips; not a murmur fell from him.

To let fall; to drop.

To sink; to depress; as, to fall the voice.

To diminish; to lessen or lower.

To bring forth; as, to fall lambs.

To fell; to cut down; as, to fall a tree.

The act of falling; a dropping or descending be the force of gravity; descent; as, a fall from a horse, or from the yard of ship.

The act of dropping or tumbling from an erect posture; as, he was walking on ice, and had a fall.

Death; destruction; overthrow; ruin.

Downfall; degradation; loss of greatness or office; termination of greatness, power, or dominion; ruin; overthrow; as, the fall of the Roman empire.

The surrender of a besieged fortress or town ; as, the fall of Sebastopol.

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

A sinking of tone; cadence; as, the fall of the voice at the close of a sentence.

Declivity; the descent of land or a hill; a slope.

Descent of water; a cascade; a cataract; a rush of water down a precipice or steep; - usually in the plural, sometimes in the singular; as, the falls of Niagara.

The discharge of a river or current of water into the ocean, or into a lake or pond; as, the fall of the Po into the Gulf of Venice.

Extent of descent; the distance which anything falls; as, the water of a stream has a fall of five feet.

The season when leaves fall from trees; autumn.

That which falls; a falling; as, a fall of rain; a heavy fall of snow.

The act of felling or cutting down.

Lapse or declension from innocence or goodness. Specifically: The first apostasy; the act of our first parents in eating the forbidden fruit; also, the apostasy of the rebellious angels.

Formerly, a kind of ruff or band for the neck; a falling band; a faule.

That part (as one of the ropes) of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting.

The season when the leaves fall from the trees;

A sudden drop from an upright position;

The lapse of mankind into sinfulness because of the sin of Adam and Eve;

A downward slope or bend

A lapse into sin; a loss of innocence or of chastity;

A sudden decline in strength or number or importance;

A movement downward;

The act of surrendering (under agreed conditions);

The time of day immediately following sunset;

When a wrestler's shoulders are forced to the mat

A free and rapid descent by the force of gravity;

A sudden sharp decrease in some quantity;

Descend in free fall under the influence of gravity;

Move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way;

Pass suddenly and passively into a state of body or mind;

Come under, be classified or included;

Fall from clouds;

Suffer defeat, failure, or ruin;

Decrease in size, extent, or range;

Die, as in battle or in a hunt;

Touch or seem as if touching visually or audibly;

Be captured;

Occur at a specified time or place;

Yield to temptation or sin;

Lose office or power;

To be given by assignment or distribution;

Move in a specified direction;

Be due;

Lose one's chastity;

To be given by right or inheritance;

Come into the possession of;

Fall to somebody by assignment or lot;

Be inherited by;

Slope downward;

Lose an upright position suddenly;

Drop oneself to a lower or less erect position;

Fall or flow in a certain way;

Assume a disappointed or sad expression;

Be cast down;

Come out; issue;

Be born, used chiefly of lambs;

Begin vigorously;

Go as if by falling;

Come as if by falling;