shrink
verb (used without object)
to draw back, as in retreat or avoidance.
were shrinking
-
past progressiveof shrink.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
Cheap goods and labor from abroad were lowering inflation, and budget deficits were shrinking.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
"It made the tumor become very sensitive to the immunotherapy, with 23 percent of the mice cured -- they were tumor-free; in the rest, the tumors were shrinking really dramatically."
From Science Daily ● Apr. 26, 2024
Prof Abdelfattah Benkaddour, an expert from Marrakesh's Cadi Ayyad University, said that all of the water resources flowing into the river were "shrinking" and many springs that feed it had disappeared.
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2024
Large and small venues alike were shrinking before our very eyes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2023
Hermione and Mundungus were shooting upward; Ron, Fred, and George were shrinking; their hair was darkening, Hermione’s and Fleur’s appearing to shoot backward into their skulls.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
