Dē'cre-ment, n.
n. [Lat. decrementum, from decrescere; It. decremento. See DECREASE.]
Sense 1. The state of becoming gradually less; decrease; waste; loss. “The decrements of my pendents.” Ford.
Rocks, mountains, and the other elevations of the earth suffer a continual decrement. Woodward.
Sense 2. The quantity lost by gradual diminution or waste;—opposed to increment.
Sense 3. (Her.) The wane of the moon.
Sense 4. (Crystallog.) A successive diminution of the layers of molecules, applied to the faces of the primitive form, by which the secondary forms are supposed to be produced. Haüy.
Sense 5. (Math.) The quantity by which a variable is diminished.