shrinking 1 of 3

adjective

as in afraid

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shrinking

2 of 3

noun

1
as in revulsion

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2
as in diminishing

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shrinking

3 of 3

verb

present participle of shrink
1
as in compressing
to become smaller in size or volume through the drawing together of particles of matter the sweater will shrink a little when washed

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2
as in recoiling
to draw back in fear, pain, or disgust shrinking back from the approaching flames

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3
as in decreasing
to grow less in scope or intensity especially gradually his crush on her is likely to shrink after they start their new lives on different college campuses

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of shrinking
Adjective
Finishing — Softening, drying, weft straightening, stenter setting and pre-shrinking. — Advertorial, Footwear News, 20 Oct. 2026 As a shrinking-violet housewife who comes alive under the magic of live theater in The Debut, Moore was the toast of Telluride, to the point where screenings of the film regularly received mid-movie applause breaks. — Nate Jones, Vulture, 9 Oct. 2026 Re-wash and dry the garment, using these tips to avoid re-shrinking, to prevent a residue from the conditioner from setting. — Hallie Milstein, Southern Living, 15 Jan. 2026
Noun
The company’s own estimates claim that false positives — in which the tool wrongly reports that a piece of human writing was created — are 1 in 10,000 and shrinking. — T.m. Brown, CNN Money, 21 Oct. 2026 The shrinking of the Great Salt Lake creates serious problems for the animals, plants, people, communities and businesses that depend on it. — Silvia Console Battilana, Forbes.com, 20 Oct. 2026 The shrinking and eventual loss of all of these glaciers will affect ecosystems across the West, as well as waterways humans and wildlife rely on. — Andrew Fountain, The Conversation, 12 Oct. 2026 And this week, our story about the dwindling water levels in Lake Powell, the country’s second-largest reservoir, shows breathtaking expanses of dry canyon plunging to a shrinking, narrow ribbon of teal green. — Stephanie Hanes, Christian Science Monitor, 2 Oct. 2026 Hot water can cause shrinking, fraying, and pilling, which shortens the lifespan of your towels. — Jolie Kerr, Better Homes & Gardens, 26 Sep. 2026 If the tag recommends dry cleaning, washing in cold water in the washing machine, or tumble-drying on medium heat in the dryer, follow those instructions to avoid fading, shrinking, tearing, or otherwise compromising your duvet. — Abigail Wilt, Southern Living, 25 Sep. 2026 Doubt and conflict flows through not just her searching eyes but also, in this case, a shrinking, defensive posture. — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 15 Sep. 2026 The researchers think that the extremity of this shrinking has gone unnoticed previously because bombardment from space rocks over time has created craters that obscured the evidence of this process. — Robert Lea, Space.com, 10 Sep. 2026
Verb
Neither candidate reached the majority needed to win outright, forcing both campaigns to compete for a shrinking pool of undecided voters while trying to mobilize their supporters in a country deeply divided over its political future. — Alessandra Freitas, CNN Money, 25 Oct. 2026 Demographic data expose disparities that raw numbers can obscure and show whether those gaps are growing or shrinking. — Julie Morita, Time, 25 Oct. 2026 Aircraft subsequently transformed passenger travel, global trade, emergency response, and military operations, shrinking the practical distances between continents. — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 25 Oct. 2026 There were 96 House seats that fit the modern definition of a swing seat in 1964, according to one count from the 1970s, when the shrinking number of such districts was first noted. — ABC News, 24 Oct. 2026 The Chinese working-age population peaked in 2013 and has been shrinking every year since. — Stephen Messer, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2026 Amid a shrinking comedy space with few opportunities, the duo are looking to create one for themselves following the example of comedian Shane Gillis who also shot a six-episode season of his comedy Tiers independently before selling it to Netflix. — Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 23 Oct. 2026 Experts point to busier schedules, parenting demands, shrinking friendship networks and the appeal of at-home entertainment as some possible reasons for the decline. — Deirdre Bardolf, FOXNews.com, 17 Oct. 2026 The longer postseason could sideline Power Four title games, while putting more strain on players and shrinking the bowl landscape. — Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shrinking
  1. afraid
  2. revulsion
  3. diminishing
  4. compressing
  5. recoiling
  6. decreasing
  7. timid
  8. recoil
Adjective
  • Once again, Slow Horses isn’t afraid to acknowledge its heroes are in a terrible situation and will pay the price for it.
    — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Fond of travel but afraid to fly, Pan would take longish vacations in the Mediterranean, the Middle East, or Mexico, sometimes accompanied by his nieces.
    — David Hajdu, Vanity Fair, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of afraid
Noun
  • Someone else expresses revulsion at seeing dogs devour bodies left to rot, but the disgust doesn’t seem to extend to the killings themselves.
    — Jay Weissberg, Variety, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Anyone with even the mildest case of trypophobia—the sense of revulsion from tiny clusters and holes—should avert their eyes.
    — Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of revulsion
Noun
  • But as that approach began to deliver diminishing returns, and freely available human data started to dry up, the labs have leaned much more on post-training and reinforcement learning.
    — Beatrice Nolan, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Those films showed diminishing returns, however, and by 2011 the film rights had expired.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of diminishing
Verb
  • Needless to say, there’s a lot going on in Butler’s busy, occasionally dizzying script, though compressing the approximately 550-page source material was surely no easy task.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 23 Oct. 2026
  • The rapid earnings growth also has the effect of compressing multiples.
    — Sarah Min, CNBC, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of compressing
Verb
  • But some lawmakers on Capitol Hill who would write the laws regulating the industry are recoiling at the suggestion of an antitrust carveout.
    — Garrett Downs, CNBC, 30 Sep. 2026
  • All of these features make for a wonderfully light-recoiling shotgun.
    — Alex Robinson, Outdoor Life, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of recoiling
Verb
  • Increasing exercise and decreasing calories while focusing on building muscle mass may help.
    — Tom Gavin, EverydayHealth.com, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Oil companies realized that many employees were off sick with malaria, decreasing their productivity.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of decreasing
Adjective
  • Because, at this point, helping the Ukrainians achieve victory would cost relatively little, yet the West remains timid.
    — Dan Crenshaw, Washington Post, 19 Oct. 2026
  • Defense can’t be too timid, but there needs to be rational response to an asymmetric downside.
    — Bob Ackerman, Forbes.com, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of timid
Noun
  • One obvious reason for this had been that officials weren't entirely certain what the effects of firing the cannon might be on the spacecraft, such as the weapon's recoil on the station while fired in a microgravity environment.
    — Micah Hanks, Space.com, 9 Oct. 2026
  • And the fact that its recoil didn’t threaten to detach your retinas with each trigger pull was a big bonus.
    — John B. Snow, Outdoor Life, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of recoil

Phrases Containing shrinking

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shrinkages
shrinking
shrinking violet
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Cite this Entry

“Shrinking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shrinking. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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