dwarfing

American  

[dwawr-fing] / ˈdwɔr fɪŋ /

noun

Biology.

1. a process in which an animal breed or plant cultivar is intentionally induced, as by selective breeding and genetic engineering, to produce a breed or cultivar that is significantly smaller than the original: bulldogs and commercial fruit trees are examples of organisms that have been subjected to dwarfing.

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Etymology

Origin of dwarfing

First recorded in 1620–30; dwarf ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

Last year, the port handled the equivalent of 8.9 million shipping containers, dwarfing the next biggest East Coast port at Savannah, Ga., which handled 5.7 million boxes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026

China has an abundance of them, dwarfing U.S. production rates.

From Barron's • Jan. 26, 2026

It means investors are demanding such a high convenience yield to hold the physical commodity that it is dwarfing costs for storage and other inputs that are usually factored into futures prices.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 17, 2026

The country’s headline number is 300 billion barrels, a reserve that would be the largest in the world, dwarfing even Saudi Arabia’s 265 billion barrels.

From Barron's • Jan. 6, 2026

And seven thousand feet higher still, dwarfing Ama Dablam, was the icy thrust of Everest itself, all but hidden behind Nuptse.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer