But the 75-year-old ayatollah has become so powerful that the council's supervisory role has diminished to a symbolic one despite members still being elected in public votes.
Restored to leadership, the children of the old ruling class find themselves diminished.
Maryam senses a tangibly diminished morality police "presence".
The end of European colonialism in the Muslim world in no way diminished the immediacy of that challenge nor the venality, brutality and incompetence of local regimes.
The summer months are the boom time for letting: "All the one-bed stock is being diminished.
And that's really the point of next month's UK general election, in which the current Conservative prime minister, David Cameron, and his Labour challenger, Ed Miliband, are battling for the top job: this year, those powers are diminished more than they have been for a century.
For once, France is no exception: since the crisis began trust in the EU has diminished and its image has worsened.
There is something slightly diminished about Miliband as he walks on to the stage.
When there are no funds, no transport, how are we going to participate?" And yet, everyone claims that illegal forest activity has diminished.
Coming to terms with his own slightly diminished powers at 33, Federer appreciates that Nadal, who has won the French title nine times, has hit a few poor patches this summer, even on his favoured clay.
But it has increased, is increasing and ought to be diminished.
