decremental

[ dek-ruh-men-tl ]

adjective

1. showing a gradual or serial decrease or reduction:

   The retina undergoes several decremental functional and structural changes with age.

2. being or relating to the amount lost by a gradual or serial reduction:

   The pressure on the brake is decreased by a decremental amount each time it is applied by the ABS.

3. Mathematics. being or relating to a negative increment:

   In an analogous way to the addition operation, we can also use an existing variable for the decremental value of a subtraction operation.

4. Physics. relating to the ratio of amplitudes of a damped harmonic motion in the course of two successive oscillations:

   The velocity of the decremental voltage wave in response to a stimulus is one of the quantities we can derive.

Other Words From

• dec·re·men·tal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of decremental¹

First recorded in 1730–40; decrement ( def ) + -al ¹