Heikkenevä

Heikkenevä is a Finnish adjective and present participle meaning that something is in the process of becoming weaker or diminishing. It is formed from the verb heikentyä (to weaken) with the participial suffix -evä, indicating an ongoing development. In use, heikkenevä describes phenomena, conditions, or trends that are gradually losing strength or intensity rather than having already become weak.

The term is most common in formal or technical language, such as meteorology, economics, health statistics, and scientific writing. For example, a phrase like heikkenevä sade refers to rain that is diminishing in intensity, while heikkenevä kysyntä describes demand that is waning. It can also modify nouns indicating ongoing changes in a situation, such as a heikkenevä taloudellinen tilanne (a weakening economic situation) or a heikkenevä tilanne in public health.

In contrast, its antonym is vahvistuva or voimistuva, used for phenomena increasing in strength or frequency. Related noun forms include heikkeneminen or heikentyminen, which denote the process of weakening as a concept rather than the ongoing descriptor. Heikkenevä is versatile for succinctly characterizing trajectories and trends without specifying the outcome as final.