dwindle
[dwin-dl]
- to become smaller and smaller; shrink; waste away: His vast fortune has dwindled away.
- to fall away, as in quality; degenerate.
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- to make smaller and smaller; cause to shrink: Failing health dwindles ambition.
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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
Synonyms
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1. See decrease.
Antonyms
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
declineabateebbwanelessendropsubsidewitherdecreasesinkfadefalldecaydiminishshrivelshrinkweakenbatedraintaperExamples from the Web for dwindling
Contemporary Examples
After two decades of dwindling influence, NATO is refreshed and energized by the growing threat on its eastern flank.
In Wild Ones, you talk about the dwindling numbers of several species.
They can exacerbate splits within a ruling leadership, foment popular unrest, or expedite a dwindling current account.
Think thirtysomething single women are the only ones stressed about their dwindling options for marriage and kids?
The yakuza are dwindling from public view: it will be a long time before they are really gone---if ever.
Historical Examples
Cave-walls and roof all shrinking, dwindling, drawing down upon him.
The World BeyondRaymond King Cummings
Great distances here, in relation to the giant globe, were dwindling!
The World BeyondRaymond King Cummings
My poor father's health and his income were dwindling together.
The Stark Munro LettersJ. Stark Munro
Even the thunder had rolled away, dwindling to a deep mutter.
RomanceJoseph Conrad and F.M. Hueffer
Below him was a shrinking, dwindling landscape, wind-swept and desolate.
dwindle
- to grow or cause to grow less in size, intensity, or number; diminish or shrink gradually
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Word Origin
C16: from Old English dwīnan to waste away; related to Old Norse dvīna to pine away
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for dwindling
dwindle
v.
1590s, apparently diminutive and frequentative of Middle English dwinen "waste away, fade, vanish," from Old English dwinan, from Proto-Germanic *dwinanan (cf. Dutch dwijnen "to vanish," Old Norse dvina, Danish tvine, Low German dwinen), from PIE *dheu- (3) "to die" (see die (v.)). Related: Dwindled; dwindling.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper