区别辨析decrease、diminish、lessen、reduce与dwindle

decrease、diminish、lessen、reduce与dwindle这些动词的共同含义是“减少、变少”。

decrease : 指逐渐地、不断地减少。

  • Our share of the market has decreased sharply this year.
    今年我们的市场份额急剧下降。
  • We have decreased our involvement in children's books.
    我们减少了在儿童读物方面的投入。

diminish : 侧重大小数量和重要性的不断减小,强调减小的部分。

  • I don't want to diminish her achievements, but she did have a lot of help.
    我不想贬低她的成就,但她确实得到了很多帮助。
  • These memories will not be diminished by time.
    这些记忆不会随着时间的流逝而淡漠。

lessen : 普通用词,与decrease近义。指数目、程度、价值、实力等的减少。

  • A healthy diet can lessen the risk of heart disease.
    健康饮食能降低患心脏病的危险。
  • The noise began to lessen.
    噪音开始减弱。

reduce : 普通用词,含义广。指数量、程度的降低或减少。

  • Do nuclear weapons really reduce the risk of war?
    核武器真的可以减小战争爆发的危险吗?
  • The plane reduced speed as it approached the airport.
    当飞临机场时,飞机减慢了速度。

dwindle与decrease同义,指逐渐减小,但强调变得越来越少终至全无。

  • The community has dwindled to a tenth of its former size in the last two years.
    该社区在过去的两年里缩小到了原来的1/10。
  • Her hopes of success in the race dwindled last night as the weather became worse.
    随着昨晚天气的恶化,她在比赛中获胜的希望减小了。