DIMINUTION, n. [L.] 1. The act of lessening; a making smaller; opposed to augmentation; as the diminution of size, of wealth, of power, of safety.2. The state of becoming or appearing less; opposed to increase; as the diminution of the apparent diameter of a receding body.3. Discredit; loss of dignity; degradation.4. Deprivation of dignity; a lessening of estimation.5. In architecture, the contraction of the upper part of a column, by which its diameter is made less than that of the lower part.6. In music, the imitation of or reply to a subject in notes of half the length or value of those of the subject itself.
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