¹decline

decline, refuse, reject, repudiate, spurn mean to turn away by not accepting, receiving, or considering. decline often implies courteous refusal especially of offers or invitations <declined his party's nomination>. refuse suggests more positiveness or ungraciousness and often implies the denial of something asked for <refused to lend them the money>. reject implies a peremptory refusal by sending away or discarding <rejected the manuscript as unpublishable>. repudiate implies a casting off or disowning as untrue, unauthorized, or unworthy of acceptance <teenagers who repudiate the values of their parents>. spurn stresses contempt or disdain in rejection or repudiation <spurned his overtures of friendship>.

deterioration, degeneration, decadence, decline mean the falling from a higher to a lower level in quality, character, or vitality. deterioration implies generally the impairment of value or usefulness <the deterioration of the house through neglect>. degeneration stresses physical, intellectual, or especially moral retrogression <the degeneration of their youthful idealism into cynicism>. decadence presupposes a reaching and passing the peak of development and implies a turn downward with a consequent loss in vitality or energy <cited love of luxury as a sign of cultural decadence>. decline differs from decadence in suggesting a more markedly downward direction and greater momentum as well as more obvious evidence of deterioration <the meteoric decline of his career after the scandal>.