2022-02-08 ศัพท์ น่าสับสน - Set – D - diminish & minimize

Revision D

2022-02-08

ศัพท์ น่าสับสน - Set – D - diminish & minimize

แนะนำการใช้ ตามที่ส่วนใหญ่ใช้ แต่ละท้องถิ่น 

ความหมาย อาจผันแปร ตาม ตำแหน่ง/หน้าที่ ในประโยค

 

Dictionary.com:

ออกเสียง diminish = “dih-MIN-ish”

ออกเสียง minimize = “MIN-uh-mahyz”

 

Dictionary of Problem Words and Expressions:

diminish & minimize

Diminish means 

“to make smaller, less, or less important,” 

“to reduce, shrink, decrease, or contract”: 

“Two aspirin tablets will diminish your pain.”

Minimize means 

“to reduce to the smallest possible amount, degree, size, or extent” 

and also means “to belittle”: 

“It is always unwise to minimize the horror of war.”

“Since I am doing the best I can, you should not try to minimize my efforts.”

Minimize is an absolute term 

and should not be accompanied by adverbs

such as somewhat and greatly.

 

Instead of writing greatly minimize, write diminishor reduce.

 

Dictionary.com:

MORE ABOUT DIMINISH

What does diminish mean?

To diminish is to become smaller, fewer, or less, 

as in 

If we don’t order more, our stock of supplies will slowly diminish until we run out completely.

 

It can also mean to make smaller, fewer, or less,

as in 

We need to diminish our reliance on fossil fuels. 

Close synonyms of these senses of diminish 

are reduce, decrease, and lessen.

 

Diminish can also be used in less literal ways.

It can mean to make something seem smaller or less significant,

as in 

The senator tried to diminish his role in the scandal. 

The verb downplay is used in a similar way.

 

To diminish a person is to reduce or take away

from their stature, reputation, or authority in some way

—to belittle or disparage them,

as in 

The new tell-all book is clearly an attempt to diminish a man who is regarded as a legend in his field. 

 

Example: 

My interest in sports has diminished since I was a kid

—I’m only a casual fan now.

 

Where does diminish come from?

The first records of the word diminish come from the 1400s. 

It comes from a blend of the Anglo-French-derived term diminuen, 

meaning “to lessen” (from Latin verb dēminuere, “to make smaller”), 

and the archaic word minish, which means the same thing as diminish.

 

A common use of diminish is in the phrase diminishing returns, 

which is used in the context of economics, business, and other fields 

to refer to a reductionin the desired result (the “return”) of some action

such as profit, productivity, or some other benefit. 

 

The law of diminishing returns is a model,

developed by economist David Ricardo, 

stating that as more effort ormoney is invested into a venture,

the less returns one is likely to get over time. 

The concept can be appliedto many fields.

 

Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Choose the Right Synonym for diminish

Decrease, Lessen, Diminish, Reduce, Abate, Dwindle

mean to grow or make less.

Decrease suggests a progressive decline in size, amount, numbers, or intensity.  

slowly decreased the amount of pressure

Lessen suggests a decline in amount rather than in number.  

has been unable to lessen her debt

Diminish emphasizes a perceptible loss and implies its subtraction from a total.  

his visual acuity has diminished

Reduce implies a bringing down or lowering.  

you must reduce your caloric intake

Abate implies a reducing of something excessive or oppressive in force or amount.  

the storm abated

Dwindle implies progressive lessening and is applied to things growing visibly smaller.  

their provisions dwindled slowly