Shrinkage

noun, slang

noun, slang ·2 syllables ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of shrinking, or the proportion by which something shrinks. countable, uncountable

    "How far progress has been made in liquidating the locomotive stock of the old companies may be judged from the shrinkage in their numbers, by some 50 per cent. at the end of 1931, to about 35 per cent. in 1938."

  2. 2
    the act of stealing goods that are on display in a store wordnet
  3. 3
    The act of shrinking, or the proportion by which something shrinks.; The loss of merchandise through theft, spoilage, and obsolescence: the shrinking of inventory. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    the amount by which something shrinks wordnet
  5. 5
    The act of shrinking, or the proportion by which something shrinks.; The reduction in size of the male genitalia when cold, such as from immersion in cold water. countable, slang, uncountable

    "Do women know about shrinkage?"

Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    process or result of becoming less or smaller wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
shrinkingablationatrophyattenuationattritionconsumption

Example

More examples

"Drying this fabric at a high temperature may cause shrinkage."

Etymology

From shrink + -age.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.