How to Use wither in a Sentence
- The plants withered and died.
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Some leaves wither brown, some keep green.
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Jane Hirshfield,
New Yorker,
8 Sep. 2025
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His ego would wither and blow away like so many leaves in autumn.
—
Bill Goodykoontz,
AZCentral.com,
20 Jan. 2026
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His life had begun to wither, and sink.
—
Miami Herald,
23 Oct. 2025
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Many of the plants have bolted or gone to seed or withered in the heat.
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Mary Marlowe Leverette,
Southern Living,
5 Sep. 2025
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Trees near their sprinklers withered and died.
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Nick Bowlin,
ProPublica,
12 Feb. 2026
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Trees near their sprinklers withered and died.
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Nick Bowlin,
The Frontier,
16 Feb. 2026
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The bears live like that for years, milked for bile, withering away.
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Jill Lepore,
The New Yorker,
17 July 2023
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Likewise, slime mold tubes that find food grow and dead ends wither away.
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Rachael Lallensack,
Smithsonian Magazine,
29 Dec. 2021
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Many grapes become too rotted and are left to wither away.
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John Mariani,
Forbes.com,
23 Jan. 2026
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Houseplants would wither and die.
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Literary Hub,
20 Oct. 2025
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The truth was that all of it was, and is, simply withering away.
—
Ann Manov,
Harpers Magazine,
30 June 2026
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If they are left to wither, leaders have to ask what steps are missing.
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Dr. Diane Hamilton,
Forbes.com,
8 Sep. 2025
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First, its leaves are sun-dried on wooden racks to wither and darken.
—
Laura Kiniry,
Smithsonian Magazine,
1 Feb. 2022
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Those roots have withered in Cuba.
—
Oscar Biscet,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 Dec. 2025
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After all, there’s a reason these rugs haven’t withered away.
—
Michelle Mastro,
The Spruce,
29 June 2026
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This has a longer inseam for taller folks, and is made in a light wash that won't wither away in the wash.
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Michelle Rostamian,
Peoplemag,
18 Aug. 2023
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The stem tissues shrivel, and parts of the plant begin to wither.
—
Neil Sperry,
San Antonio Express-News,
2 July 2021
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The buds and leaves that emerged in the premature warm weather freeze and wither.
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Leanne Potts,
Better Homes & Gardens,
22 Sep. 2025
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While some herbs can hold up in the microwave, delicate herbs will wither and turn brown.
—
Viveka Neveln,
Better Homes & Gardens,
30 Aug. 2022
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However, new plants can dry out and wither away quickly.
—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
11 June 2026
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However, many of the trees, stripped of their bark by elephants, have withered in the fields.
—
Tayari Jones,
Travel + Leisure,
26 July 2023
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But over time, lovers vanished, friendships withered, and purpose drained away.
—
Shai Tubali,
Big Think,
5 Aug. 2025
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Salinas is not the first city where Gannett has let a newsroom wither.
—
James Rainey,
Anchorage Daily News,
1 Apr. 2023
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The classic old maid was a dowryless creature doomed to wither idly at her parents’ side.
—
Wisława Szymborska,
The New York Review of Books,
3 Aug. 2021
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In some cases, trees might suck water from their fruit to survive, causing the fruit to wither.
—
Alessio Perrone,
Scientific American,
31 Aug. 2023
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Tomatoes grow, then wither Guelleh can bear witness to the hope - and the letdown.
—
Julie Bourdin,
NPR,
11 Apr. 2026
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Lower leaves on some plants, like dracaenas and palms, will start to brown and wither as new growth begins.
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Ariel Cheung,
Chicago Tribune,
18 May 2022
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The hand that signed the treaty, Scheidemann declared, should wither away.
—
Elizabeth Kolbert,
The New Yorker,
27 Dec. 2021
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Cicadas do trees a service by pruning the weak branches that wither and die from the weight of the eggs that are laid there.
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The Enquirer,
21 June 2021
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Cut hostas back once the leaves turn brown and wither.
—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
31 Oct. 2025
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As the season wears on, the white trillium turns to pink and eventually withers.
—
Sheryl De Vore,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Apr. 2026
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The horses can be at least 6 feet tall at their withers, the highest point of the back, and at least 1,800 pounds.
—
Judith Kohler,
Denver Post,
24 Jan. 2026
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Powdery mildew coats the leaves of roses and zinnias, blazing heat withers your veggies, and weeds are the only plants that seem to be thriving.
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Leanne Potts,
Better Homes & Gardens,
22 Sep. 2025
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Flowers now bloom weeks before pollinators stir; fruit withers before migrating birds can reach it.
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Marion Renault,
The Atlantic,
29 Sep. 2025
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Although the towering inflorescence withers after a few days, the same plant survives underground and can bloom again in future years.
—
ABC News,
15 Apr. 2026
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It was also aided by the erosion of safeguards against corporate power, such as labor unions, and by policy choices that let the minimum wage wither.
—
Arindrajit Dube,
Time,
10 Apr. 2026
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That's largely because of cases that would go undiagnosed as efforts by health care workers to find people living with TB wither.
—
Jonathan Lambert,
NPR,
11 Sep. 2025
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Without oxygen, neural tissue usually withers in minutes.
—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
21 Jan. 2026
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Who knows what will happen if the AI bubble pops and the frictionless and ubiquitous access to LLMs withers into something much more limited.
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ArsTechnica,
13 Apr. 2026
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Who knows what will happen if the AI bubble pops and the frictionless and ubiquitous access to LLMs withers into something much more limited.
—
Nate Anderson,
ArsTechnica,
13 May 2026
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This withers people’s capacity to think through these problems on their own, and perhaps more worryingly places the ability to broadly influence these choices in the hands of those who train and control AI technologies.
—
Elizabeth Bruenig,
The Atlantic,
27 May 2026
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According to the brand, the average male Budweiser Clydesdale stands approximately 6 feet tall at its withers and weighs roughly 2,000 lbs.
—
Kelli Bender,
PEOPLE,
15 Jan. 2026
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Research and productivity wither.
—
Steve Forbes,
Forbes.com,
11 Sep. 2025
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wither.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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