diminishingly

USAGE SUMMARY

"diminishingly" is correct and usable in written English. You can use it to describe something that is decreasing in intensity, quantity, or significance. Example: "The team's chances of winning became diminishingly small as the game progressed." Alternative expressions include "increasingly less" and "gradually less."

✓ Grammatically correct

News & Media

Encyclopedias

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

8 human-written examples

As reliability increases, these benefits keep growing and the costs become diminishingly small.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Ms Suu Kyi, who turned 70 last Friday, now a faces diminishingly small chance of ever leading the country to whose democratic transformation she has been dedicated for nearly 30 years.

Independent

The others score nothing and occupy diminishingly desirable seats in rotation, leaving the bum seated at the president's right.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Castor points out that once "the court … no longer knew what to do with" Joan, and the realisation dawned on her that "a woman on a battlefield became an alarming liability", Joan found diminishingly few well-placed supporters.

The Guardian - Books

Through a succession of diminishingly potent Properos, the malevolent complexities of "The Sirens of Titan" have yielded to a more amiable confusion.

The New Yorker

Read this way, "Coloring Book" offers listeners a diminishingly rare shared lens.

The New Yorker

Explaining that the old man has gone to Tokyo for work, the lovers enjoy three diminishingly blissful years together, until the forces of order belatedly show up in the figure of a goofy, accident-prone inspector from the city (Takuzo Kawatani).

The New York Times

A popular hit in San Francisco last year, in a staging by Mr. Shepard packed with two-fisted marquee names (Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Woody Harrelson), the play itself is long, plodding and diminishingly crowded with echoes from stronger Shepard works.

The New York Times

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

1 human-written examples

I understand that there are people out there who are seriously depressed about their appearance; that some people have life-diminishingly bad acne scarring or a nose that dominates their face and consequently, in their view, their lives.

The Guardian - Opinion

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Pair this adverb with abstract nouns (like "chance", "hope", or "bliss") to describe a nuanced decline in quality or probability.

Common error

Avoid using "diminishingly" where the adjective form "diminishing" is required. For example, use "diminishing returns" instead of "diminishingly returns", as the latter incorrectly attempts to modify a noun.

Linguistic Context

As an adverb, "diminishingly" functions primarily as a degree modifier for adjectives. In the examples analyzed by Ludwig, it often precedes descriptors of size or frequency (e.g., "small", "few", "rare") to quantify a trend of reduction.

Expression frequency: Uncommon

Frequent in

News & Media

55%

Encyclopedias

25%

Science

15%

Less common in

Social Media

3%

Wiki

1%

Reference

1%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In conclusion, "diminishingly" is a sophisticated and grammatically correct adverb used to describe things that are becoming progressively smaller or less significant. Ludwig AI confirms its reliability, especially in News & Media and Encyclopedic contexts. It is most effective when used to modify adjectives that describe scale or probability, such as "diminishingly small" or "diminishingly rare". While it is less common in casual speech, its use in high-tier publications like The New Yorker makes it an excellent choice for writers seeking precision and an elevated tone.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

decreasingly

Offers a direct synonym that is slightly more common and less formal.

increasingly less

Uses a comparative structure to emphasize the acceleration of the decline.

ever less

Adds a temporal quality, suggesting a continuous and unending reduction.

progressively less

Suggests a step-by-step or methodical reduction in scale.

gradually less

Focuses on the slow and steady nature of the change.

steadily less

Implies a consistent rate of reduction without fluctuation.

dwindlingly

Focuses on the process of wasting away or shrinking from a larger whole.

vanishingly

Specifically implies that the subject is nearing a state of complete absence.

waningly

Carries a more literary or metaphorical tone, often used for power or influence.

recedingly

Suggests moving away or becoming more distant rather than just smaller.

FAQs

How to use "diminishingly" in a sentence?

You can use "diminishingly" as an adverb to describe something that is becoming smaller or less intense, such as "the costs become "diminishingly small" as efficiency grows".

What is the difference between "diminishingly" and "vanishingly"?

While both describe reduction, "diminishingly" focuses on the process of decreasing, whereas "vanishingly" emphasizes that the amount has reached an extremely tiny, almost non-existent level.

Can I use "decreasingly" instead of "diminishingly"?

Yes, "decreasingly" is a perfectly valid alternative, though "diminishingly" often sounds more formal and literary in professional contexts.

Is "diminishingly" considered formal?

Yes, it is typically found in high-level journalism, academic writing, and encyclopedias, making it a "formal adverb" suitable for professional documents.