On the decline meaning in English

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Definition

on the decline, in decline: dipping, declining, going down, drooping, falling idiom

The company's sales have been on the decline for the past three years. They are now 40% less than 3 years ago.

The country is on the decline economically. Unemployment is at a record level.

Examples

"Voter turnout all over the developed world has been in decline since the 1960's."

Exercise 1

Select the TRUE statements from the list below.

There may be more than one correct answer!

Rupert doesn't think women should be allowed at rugby matches.

Rugby is growing in popularity among women.

According to Rupert, rugby fans have lost their sense of fair-play.

According to Rupert, rugby is a sport on the decline.

Select the TRUE statements from the list below.

There may be more than one correct answer!

Rupert doesn't think women should be allowed at rugby matches.

This is an incorrect choice. Rupert never makes any statements about who should be allowed to attend rugby matches. He actually says that more and more women attending rugby matches "can only be a good thing", meaning he is very happy about it!

Rugby is growing in popularity among women.

This is a correct choice. Rupert says, "more and more women are attending the matches", meaning that rugby is becoming more popular with women than it has been in the past. The verb "to attend" means "to participate in (an event)" or "to assist (an event)".

According to Rupert, rugby fans have lost their sense of fair-play.

This is an incorrect choice. In fact, Rupert begins this report by asking the rugby fan "why do rugby fans have such a spirit of fair-play?" He is in fact asking why the fans have such a high degree of "fair-play". Both Rupert and the rugby fan agree that rugby fans respect the rules and behave well at rugby matches.

According to Rupert, rugby is a sport on the decline.

This is an incorrect choice. There is no indication that Rupert thinks rugby is "on the decline", or doing increasingly worse. In fact, he notes that rugby is a sport "on the rise", meaning that it is becoming more and more popular.

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