Link Centre Dictionary

shrink

UK/ˈʃɹɪŋk/ US/ˈʃʰɹʷɪŋk/ fairly common slang
verb (5) noun (1)

verb

1.

wither, especially with a loss of moisture

  • “The fruit dried and shriveled”
Synonyms
2.

draw back, as with fear or pain

  • “she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf”
Synonyms
3.

reduce in size; reduce physically

  • “Hot water will shrink the sweater”
  • “Can you shrink this image?”
Synonyms
4.

become smaller or draw together

  • “The fabric shrank”
  • “The balloon shrank”
Synonyms
Antonyms
5.

decrease in size, range, or extent

  • “His earnings shrank”
  • “My courage shrivelled when I saw the task before me”
Synonyms

noun

1.

a physician who specializes in psychiatry

Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English schrynken, from Old English sċrincan, from Proto-Germanic *skrinkwaną. Cognate with Dutch schrinken (“to shrink”). The sense “psychologist, psychotherapist” is a clipping of head-shrinker.

Phrases

  • grocery shrink ray
  • heat shrink
  • shrink away
  • shrink back
  • shrink down
  • shrink rate
  • shrink ray
  • shrink up
  • shrinking frog
  • shrinking violet
  • shrinkwrap license

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.