Decrease and Expand

Opposite meaning words

sentence examples collocations

Decrease

Decrease verb - To make smaller in amount, volume, or extent.

Usage example: workers decreased the volume of water flowing through the pipes in order to prevent an overflow

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Synonyms for Decrease

Antonyms for Decrease

Expand is an antonym for decrease in topics: reduce, increase, grow less or make less.

Nearby Words: decreased, decreasing, decrement, decremented

Expand

Expand verb - To make greater in size, amount, or number.

Usage example: we had to expand the list of wedding guests several times in order to accommodate all the relatives Mother wouldn't dream of excluding

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Synonyms for Expand

Antonyms for Expand

Decrease is an antonym for expand in topics: make bigger, get bigger, turn, extend, go into detail.

Nearby Words: expanded, expanse, expansion, expansive, expanding

Common collocations

capacity	decrease capacity	expand capacity
power	decrease power	expand power
number	decrease number	expand number
time	decrease time	expand time
Other words: size, numbers.

Both words in one sentence

He can both expand and decrease the size of the arena by using either ice magic (to expand it) or fire magic (to melt the ice).

Source: Pivotal Boss
Why We Are Bummed Communism Fell: In the trailer for the film it's explicitly pointed out that Globotech decided to expand into the toy business due to the decrease in military hardware demand after the end of the Cold War.

Source: Film / Small Soldiers

Cite this Source

Expand and Decrease. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/decrease/expand

Decrease & Expand. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/decrease/expand>.

Expand or Decrease. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/decrease/expand.

Google Ngram Viewer shows how "decrease" and "expand" have occurred on timeline