Shrinking

//ˈʃɹɪŋkɪŋ// adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of one who, or that which, shrinks; act of becoming smaller or moving timidly away.

    "[…] the silent grief beyond the power of words—the generous consolations of the noble sister—the shrinkings of the poor criminal, and his relapsings into a gentler penitence […]"

  2. 2
    the act of becoming less wordnet
  3. 3
    process or result of becoming less or smaller wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of shrink form-of, gerund, participle, present
Adjective
  1. 1
    Shy and retiring.

Synonyms

All synonyms
afraidaloofasepticatrophyattenuationaverse

Example

More examples

"The shrinking of the domestic market has been blamed on inflation."

Etymology

From shrink + -ing.

Related phrases

shrinking violet

More for "shrinking"

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