declining

1. To move downwards, to fall, to drop.

   The dollar has declined rapidly since 2001.

2. To become weaker or worse.

   My health declined in winter.

3. To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
4. To cause to decrease or diminish.
5. To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.

   a line that declines from straightness

6. To refuse, forbear.

   On reflection I think I will decline your generous offer.

7. (grammar, usually of substantives, adjectives and pronouns) To inflect for case, number and sometimes gender.
8. (by extension) To run through from first to last; to repeat like a schoolboy declining a noun.
9. To reject a penalty against the opposing team, usually because the result of accepting it would benefit the non-penalized team less than the preceding play.

   The team chose to decline the fifteen-yard penalty because their receiver had caught the ball for a thirty-yard gain.

noun

Decline