dwindle
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
verb
Synonym Usage
See decrease.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
dwindlesimple
-
dwindlessimple
-
have dwindledperfect
-
has dwindledperfect
-
am dwindlingprogressive
-
are dwindlingprogressive
-
is dwindlingprogressive
-
have been dwindlingperfect progressive
-
has been dwindlingperfect progressive
Past
-
dwindledsimple
-
had dwindledperfect
-
was dwindlingprogressive
-
were dwindlingprogressive
-
had been dwindlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dwindle
1590–1600; dwine (now dial.) to waste away ( Middle English; Old English dwīnan; cognate with Middle Dutch dwīnen to languish, Old Norse dvīna to pine away) + -le
Explanation
What do love, money, and the earth all have in common? All can dwindle, or shrink away, if we don't handle them properly. The word dwindle has a wonderfully descriptive, almost childlike sound to it, as though it belongs in a nursery rhyme. That might help you remember the meaning, which is to shrink away gradually, like the Cheshire Cat in "Alice in Wonderland," who dwindles away until nothing is left but his grin.
Vocabulary lists containing dwindle
List 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
If consumers pull back further as tax returns dwindle and gas prices remain elevated, those lofty expectations could become simply unrealistic.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
But as funding from cap-and-invest and the climate bond dwindle, the state must increasingly turn to Cal Fire, which devotes only a small portion of its budget to mitigation work.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2026
The question is whether price increases accelerate as inventory sources dwindle.
From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026
Vendors at the market are watching their profit margins dwindle and weighing just how much they can raise prices, aware that many of their customers are also struggling to get by.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 10, 2026
Like musicians, like mathematicians—like elite athletes—scientists peak early and dwindle fast.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
As the number of workers dwindles, he thinks that wages for young people will rise, leading more people to enter the labor force.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Markets are focused on the rupee as it dwindles toward the psychological breakwater of 100 to the dollar.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
As time dwindles, the Internal Revenue Service has received over 1 million fewer income-tax returns compared to the same point a year ago.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 9, 2026
If US demand for UK products dwindles due to the extra charges importers face, this could hit profit margins and ultimately lead to UK job cuts unless British firms find new customers outside the US.
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2025
The crowd around him quickly dwindles to only a few people wandering up and down the pathway.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
The population dwindled to about 1,000 butterflies in the 1970s, when it was named an endangered species.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
By the two-year anniversary of the bombing, the full-time task force of 120 investigators—who had interviewed nearly 5,000 individuals and pursued leads in 38 states and three countries—had dwindled to several detectives.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
Although the Fourth of July “has not quite dwindled away,” he wrote, now it is good for nothing more than “burning fire-crackers!”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
Aid deliveries that reached the camp weeks ago have dwindled as services across the city are repeatedly hit.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
But my worry dwindled when I looked at you.
From "The Bridge Home" by Padma Venkatraman
Putting off the paperwork might be her way of keeping at bay the reality that her time with her partner is dwindling.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
The Ukrainians have been defending against Iranian-made Shahed suicide drones, fending off the types of attacks the U.S. military and its allies now face in the Middle East with dwindling supplies of air-defense stocks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
International hotel chains have surrendered their operations, and the dwindling tourism industry has denied the insolvent government an essential revenue source.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
The Japanese parliament has approved a bill to relax imperial succession rules, amid concerns over the dwindling size of the imperial family.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
They argue all the way home, Matt complaining that barber supply sales have fallen off, and that their savings are dwindling, Rose screeching back that making Charlie normal is more important than anything else.
From "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
