shrink

American  

[shringk] / ʃrɪŋk /

verb (used without object)

• shrinks,
  present (3rd person singular)
• shrunk,
  past participle,  past
• shrank,
  past
• shrunken,
  past participle
• shrinking
  present participle

1. to draw back, as in retreat or avoidance.

   to shrink from danger; to shrink from contact.

   Synonyms:

   quail, recoil, withdraw

2. to contract or lessen in size, as from exposure to conditions of temperature or moisture.

   This cloth will not shrink if washed in lukewarm water.

3. to become reduced in extent or scope.

   Antonyms:

   increase

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verb (used with object)

• shrinks,
  present (3rd person singular)
• shrunk,
  past participle,  past
• shrank,
  past
• shrunken,
  past participle
• shrinking
  present participle

1. to cause to shrink or contract; reduce.

2. Textiles. to cause (a fabric) to contract during finishing, thus preventing shrinkage, during laundering, of the garments made from it.

noun

• shrinks
  plural

1. an act or instance of shrinking.

2. a shrinking movement.

3. shrinkage.

4. Also called head shrinker.  Slang. Also a psychotherapist, psychiatrist, or psychoanalyst.

shrink British  

/ ʃrɪŋk /

verb

1. to contract or cause to contract as from wetness, heat, cold, etc

2. to become or cause to become smaller in size

3. 1. to recoil or withdraw

      to shrink from the sight of blood

   2. to feel great reluctance (at)

      to shrink from killing an animal

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noun

1. the act or an instance of shrinking

2. slang a psychiatrist

Synonym Usage

See wince ¹. See decrease.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• shrinker
  noun
• overshrink
  verb
• nonshrinkable
  adjective
• nonshrinking
  adjective
• shrinkable
  adjective
• shrinking
  adjective
• unshrinkable
  adjective
• unshrinking
  adjective
• nonshrinkingly
  adverb
• shrinkingly
  adverb
• unshrinkingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• shrinks
  plural

Participles

• shrinking
  present
• shrunk
  past
• shrunken
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• shrink
  simple
• shrinks
  simple
• have shrunk
  perfect
• have shrunken
  perfect
• has shrunk
  perfect
• has shrunken
  perfect
• am shrinking
  progressive
• are shrinking
  progressive
• is shrinking
  progressive
• have been shrinking
  perfect progressive
• has been shrinking
  perfect progressive

Past

• shrank
  simple
• shrunk
  simple
• had shrunk
  perfect
• had shrunken
  perfect
• was shrinking
  progressive
• were shrinking
  progressive
• had been shrinking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will shrink
  simple
• will have shrunk
  perfect
• will have shrunken
  perfect
• will be shrinking
  progressive
• will have been shrinking
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of shrink

First recorded before 900, and in 1955–60 shrink for def. 9; Middle English schrinken, Old English scrincan; cognate with Middle Dutch schrinken, Swedish skrynka “to shrink,” Norwegian skrukka “old shrunken woman”

Explanation

Shrink is the informal word you can use to talk about a therapist. Talking about your problems with her can hopefully help you shrink them, or make them smaller. The word shrink is related to the Swedish skrynka meaning "to wrinkle." Think about what happens to a lone forgotten fruit at the bottom of your fridge drawer. After a while, it begins to wrinkle or shrink. Clothes washed in hot water tend to shrink, so be wary of the setting on your washing machine. The use of shrink as referring to therapists started as late as the 1960s — with the idea of a psychologist being a "head-shrinker."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shrink shrinks shrank shrunk shrunken shrinking

Perhaps, even, you’d directly invest in those and the pile of assets those managers advise would shrink.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026

Last week, fresh official data showed wage growth coming in at 3.2 percent year-on-year, lagging inflation and meaning that most people were seeing their income shrink in real terms.

From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026

Now, under proposals introduced by the federal government earlier this year, tighter controls will be introduced to shrink its size and budget.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

He predicted that company sizes may shrink during this transition from industrial giants to tech companies, as small teams of people powered by personal AI agents will be able to run companies at significant scale.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

Professor Treebaun chose that moment to freeze the screen, mid-flail, and I saw the boy visibly shrink.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

“This could catalyze some family conversations” as the price differential between single-line and multiline plans shrinks, said David Barden, telecom partner at New Street Research.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

Nevertheless, the claustrophobic framing shrinks an epic voyage into small-screen content made solely for a bored child to hold right up to their nose.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026

While the company will “struggle to grow,” the current stock price implies that its business shrinks 5% each year in perpetuity, he added.

From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026

If the best fleets can generate their own demand in dense markets, Uber’s aggregation value shrinks to secondary cities and overflow capacity.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026

I’m thinking it’s impossible for her to fit in, but she shrinks to the size of a lizard, and I put her in my backpack alongside Cocoa.

From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas

Evergrande's stock market valuation shrank by 99% before its shares were removed from the Hong Kong exchange in August 2025 after more than a decade and a half of trading.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

The occupations most exposed to AI’s reach shrank by 0.2% year over year in June, according to research from ADP and Stanford University.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026

This year, the firm shrank the number of U.S. audit partners by 10% and is completely rethinking the role of junior-level auditors—college graduates who generally start with a salary around $80,000.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

The results suggest that the local population shrank dramatically before new groups migrated north and settled in the region.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026

Pax shrank away, but the thoughts he’d had earlier surfaced again.

From "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker

But such sharp rebukes may well suggest the former first minister's standing in the party has shrunk.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

While International Monetary Fund data show that the dollar’s share of official foreign currency reserves has shrunk over the past 20 years, in more recent years, the process has flatlined.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026

His reservoir of support, abroad and at home, has shrunk as the war has entered its sixth month.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026

It has shrunk dramatically in the last 27 years, and research shows climate change is intensifying the extremely dry conditions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

Four floors down, her doctor, shrunk to child size, sits on the lawn.

From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez

Satellite images examined by BBC Verify show shrunken glaciers, scorched areas left by wildfires, green fields turned arid and lower river levels.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

Buffett liked the monopoly status of newspapers, which has been largely destroyed over the past 20 years, leaving the industry greatly shrunken and far less profitable.

From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026

On top of a degraded infrastructure, it would have to contend with a shrunken military and new threats such as drones.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 27, 2025

The individual beans, which resemble shrunken dates due to their wrinkly dark exterior, can also be microplaned to create a fine powder, according to a guide from Great British Chefs.

From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2025

He enlists the aid of the sacred ota stone, as well as the shrunken head of a doll, a ball of powdered eggshell, and the eggun, a vertebra from the spine of a goat.

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García

Supreme Court and further complicate efforts by seven Western states to agree on how to share water from the shrinking river and its reservoirs, which have fallen to record low levels.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

"The persistent slide in vacancies is a red flag for the jobs market, suggesting labour demand is shrinking amid soaring employment and energy costs, while greater automation is also squeezing some entry-level roles."

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

The vineyard's harvests have already been shrinking over the years, dropping to around 5,000 litres -- enough for about 40,000 bottles -- compared to around 6,000 litres in the past.

From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026

This concern about the loss of farmland is a constant of the opposition to large projects that might bring growth to rural areas suffering from population declines, shrinking schools and empty houses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

But with Max abandoning us the way he was, I could feel my Circle of Friendship shrinking.

From "Maybe He Just Likes You" by Barbara Dee

Related Words

• decrease
• diminish
• drop off
• dwindle
• fall off
• lessen
• narrow
• reduce
• shorten
• shrivel
• wane
• weaken
• wither