autodecrements
|au-to-de-cre-ments|
🇺🇸
/ˌɔːtoʊdɪˈkrɛmɛnts/
🇬🇧
/ˌɔːtəʊdɪˈkrɛm(ə)nts/
(autodecrement)
automatic decrease (often by 1)
Etymology
'autodecrements' is formed from the combining prefix 'auto-' (from Greek 'autós' meaning 'self') and the noun 'decrement' (from Latin 'decrementum').
'decrement' comes from Latin 'decrementum' (from 'decrescere' or related roots meaning 'to decrease'); in modern English 'decrement' came to mean 'a decrease' or a 'decreasing amount', and the technical compound 'autodecrement' arose in computing by prefixing 'auto-'.
Originally, roots referred generally to 'decreasing' in a physical or quantitative sense; in modern technical usage the compound came to mean a programmed or automatic decrease (often by a fixed amount such as one).
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
plural of 'autodecrement': an automatic (programmatic) decrement operation or instance where a value is reduced, typically by one, without manual intervention.
The autodecrements in the loop ensured the counter eventually reached zero.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Verb 1
third-person singular present of 'autodecrement': to automatically reduce (a value), typically by one, as part of program logic or an operator.
Each time the function is called, it autodecrements the retry counter.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/11/24 23:22