Shrink
verb
To become or make smaller in size.
The shirt shrunk in the wash.
Often appears as...
- shrink in size
- shrink in the wash
verb
To move back or away, especially because of fear.
She shrank back in fear.
Often appears as...
- shrink from the sight
- shrink in fear
noun
A psychiatrist or therapist.
He started seeing a shrink after the incident.
Often appears as...
- see a shrink
- visit a shrink
Usage tips
Informal, Neutral
Colloquial
verb
To avoid or neglect a duty or responsibility.
He has a tendency to shrink his responsibilities.
Often appears as...
- shrink responsibilities
- shrink duty
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
verb
To become or make smaller in size.
The shirt shrunk in the wash.
Often appears as...
- shrink in size
- shrink in the wash
verb
To move back or away, especially because of fear.
She shrank back in fear.
Often appears as...
- shrink from the sight
- shrink in fear
noun
A psychiatrist or therapist.
He started seeing a shrink after the incident.
Often appears as...
- see a shrink
- visit a shrink
Usage tips
Informal, Neutral
Colloquial
verb
To avoid or neglect a duty or responsibility.
He has a tendency to shrink his responsibilities.
Often appears as...
- shrink responsibilities
- shrink duty
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
Definition 1 of 4
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Change
Used to describe items that actually get smaller in physical size or volume.
Make sure to buy pre-shrunk jeans, so they won't shrink after washing.
Pro Tip 2/3Irreversible Action
Shrinking usually cannot be reversed, especially in the context of clothes and fabric.
I can't wear my sweater anymore because it shrunk and won't fit.
Pro Tip 3/3Metaphorical Use
Can also describe reduction in non-physical things, such as a budget.
Our team's budget has shrunk, so we need to cut costs.
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Change
Used to describe items that actually get smaller in physical size or volume.
Make sure to buy pre-shrunk jeans, so they won't shrink after washing.
Pro Tip 2/3Irreversible Action
Shrinking usually cannot be reversed, especially in the context of clothes and fabric.
I can't wear my sweater anymore because it shrunk and won't fit.
Pro Tip 3/3Metaphorical Use
Can also describe reduction in non-physical things, such as a budget.
Our team's budget has shrunk, so we need to cut costs.
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Change
Used to describe items that actually get smaller in physical size or volume.
Make sure to buy pre-shrunk jeans, so they won't shrink after washing.
Pro Tip 2/3Irreversible Action
Shrinking usually cannot be reversed, especially in the context of clothes and fabric.
I can't wear my sweater anymore because it shrunk and won't fit.
Pro Tip 3/3Metaphorical Use
Can also describe reduction in non-physical things, such as a budget.
Our team's budget has shrunk, so we need to cut costs.
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Video examples
What gives a dollar bill...
and a decrease in consumer spending would reduce business profits, leading to more unemployment and a further decrease in spending, causing the economy to keep shrinking. So most economists believe that while too much of either is dangerous, a small, consistent amount of inflation is necessary to encourage economic growth.
Video examples
Can you solve the frog...
shrinking the sample space and increasing the probability of getting a particular combination. The point is that information affects probability. And conditional probability isn't just the stuff of abstract mathematical games. It pops up in the real world, as well. Computers and other devices use conditional probability
Video examples
Questions No One Knows...
Or, maybe we're looking at the wrong scale. Perhaps intelligent civilizations come to realize that life is ultimately just complex patterns of information interacting with each other in a beautiful way, and that that can happen more efficiently at a small scale. So, just as on Earth, clunky stereo systems have shrunk
Video examples
Why is it so hard to...
Additionally, mounting evidence suggests we'll need to figure out how to eradicate cancer stem cells. These are rare but seem to have special properties that make them resistant to chemotherapy and radiation. In theory, even if the rest of the tumor shrinks beyond detection during treatment,
Video examples
What if a US presidential...
Because when the protests turn violent, all that chaos and carnage actually chases away supporters. So rather than demonstrations getting bigger, and the protests getting bigger, they start to shrink. Then the government looks reasonable when it cracks down. So it's actually a lot better
Video examples
How do hard drives work?...
This amazing advance in storage capacity wasn't just a matter of making everything smaller, but involved multiple innovations. A technique called the thin film lithography process allowed engineers to shrink the reader and writer. And despite its size, the reader became more sensitive
Video examples
Mercury 101 PIPE National...
Because of the core's exceptional size, it's had a surprising influence on Mercury's overall size, by causing it to shrink. The hot iron core has slowly cooled and contracted over the planet's 4.5 billion years. In doing so, it pulled Mercury's surface inward,
Video examples
How Climate Change...
recognize its call and are led away on a long steeple chase over the rocks to a place where they can be fed in peace adelies usually have two chicks each and the most aggressive one is always fed first as the pack eye shrinks food is scarce
Video examples
Computing with fluids PIPE...
little drops can you arrange and I said there are no wires so literally this entire setup shrinks down and the physics works out that you can really shrink this down to a point where little postage stamp chip has the capacity to
Video examples
African Bullfrog Dad...
There's another good reason Tadpoles need help to survive the tropical sun and its shrinking effect on their shallow pools. The father takes action
Video examples
What gives a dollar bill...
and a decrease in consumer spending would reduce business profits, leading to more unemployment and a further decrease in spending, causing the economy to keep shrinking. So most economists believe that while too much of either is dangerous, a small, consistent amount of inflation is necessary to encourage economic growth.
Video examples
Can you solve the frog...
shrinking the sample space and increasing the probability of getting a particular combination. The point is that information affects probability. And conditional probability isn't just the stuff of abstract mathematical games. It pops up in the real world, as well. Computers and other devices use conditional probability
Video examples
Questions No One Knows...
Or, maybe we're looking at the wrong scale. Perhaps intelligent civilizations come to realize that life is ultimately just complex patterns of information interacting with each other in a beautiful way, and that that can happen more efficiently at a small scale. So, just as on Earth, clunky stereo systems have shrunk
Video examples
Why is it so hard to...
Additionally, mounting evidence suggests we'll need to figure out how to eradicate cancer stem cells. These are rare but seem to have special properties that make them resistant to chemotherapy and radiation. In theory, even if the rest of the tumor shrinks beyond detection during treatment,
Video examples
What if a US presidential...
Because when the protests turn violent, all that chaos and carnage actually chases away supporters. So rather than demonstrations getting bigger, and the protests getting bigger, they start to shrink. Then the government looks reasonable when it cracks down. So it's actually a lot better
Video examples
How do hard drives work?...
This amazing advance in storage capacity wasn't just a matter of making everything smaller, but involved multiple innovations. A technique called the thin film lithography process allowed engineers to shrink the reader and writer. And despite its size, the reader became more sensitive
Video examples
Mercury 101 PIPE National...
Because of the core's exceptional size, it's had a surprising influence on Mercury's overall size, by causing it to shrink. The hot iron core has slowly cooled and contracted over the planet's 4.5 billion years. In doing so, it pulled Mercury's surface inward,
Video examples
How Climate Change...
recognize its call and are led away on a long steeple chase over the rocks to a place where they can be fed in peace adelies usually have two chicks each and the most aggressive one is always fed first as the pack eye shrinks food is scarce
Video examples
Computing with fluids PIPE...
little drops can you arrange and I said there are no wires so literally this entire setup shrinks down and the physics works out that you can really shrink this down to a point where little postage stamp chip has the capacity to
Video examples
African Bullfrog Dad...
There's another good reason Tadpoles need help to survive the tropical sun and its shrinking effect on their shallow pools. The father takes action
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Valerie Faris
American Director
We had a couple of films that, in the course of working on them, the budget shrank to the point where we couldn't make it. They literally ran the numbers: They took our numbers and the stars' numbers, and when they calculated whether we could make our money back or not, it said no.
Quote examples
Maria Cornejo
American Designer
My shrink said to me once when I used to get really overwhelmed and super depressed because I was really run down between kids and the company and there was just so much going on - she said, 'You know, you have to look after you in order for you to look after everybody else.
Quote examples
Kenneth Lonergan
American Playwright
Little kids grow up discovering the world that's shown to them and then when you become a teenager, it kind of shrinks a little bit. I think when you get past that point, one of the important things is that you see there is more to the world than yourself.
Quote examples
John F. Kennedy
American President
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility - I welcome it.
Quote examples
Jock Sturges
American Photographer
The world is shrinking as we see more and more of it in the media, and the more we see of the world, the smaller we are, the more aware we are of how insignificant any one of us is.
Quote examples
James Broughton
American Director
Some artists shrink from self-awareness, fearing that it will destroy their unique gifts and even their desire to create. The truth of the matter is quite opposite.
Quote examples
Paul F. Tompkins
American Comedian
I always like things that shrink the world for me, that make me feel a strange connection, not just to the person that I'm listening to but to the world.
Quote examples
Jim Morrison
American Singer
Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.
Quote examples
John C. Maxwell
American Clergyman
Success is due to our stretching to the challenges of life. Failure comes when we shrink from them.
Quote examples
Alfred North Whitehead
English Mathematician
Knowledge shrinks as wisdom grows.
Quote examples
Valerie Faris
American Director
We had a couple of films that, in the course of working on them, the budget shrank to the point where we couldn't make it. They literally ran the numbers: They took our numbers and the stars' numbers, and when they calculated whether we could make our money back or not, it said no.
Quote examples
Maria Cornejo
American Designer
My shrink said to me once when I used to get really overwhelmed and super depressed because I was really run down between kids and the company and there was just so much going on - she said, 'You know, you have to look after you in order for you to look after everybody else.
Quote examples
Kenneth Lonergan
American Playwright
Little kids grow up discovering the world that's shown to them and then when you become a teenager, it kind of shrinks a little bit. I think when you get past that point, one of the important things is that you see there is more to the world than yourself.
Quote examples
John F. Kennedy
American President
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility - I welcome it.
Quote examples
Jock Sturges
American Photographer
The world is shrinking as we see more and more of it in the media, and the more we see of the world, the smaller we are, the more aware we are of how insignificant any one of us is.
Quote examples
James Broughton
American Director
Some artists shrink from self-awareness, fearing that it will destroy their unique gifts and even their desire to create. The truth of the matter is quite opposite.
Quote examples
Paul F. Tompkins
American Comedian
I always like things that shrink the world for me, that make me feel a strange connection, not just to the person that I'm listening to but to the world.
Quote examples
Jim Morrison
American Singer
Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.
Quote examples
John C. Maxwell
American Clergyman
Success is due to our stretching to the challenges of life. Failure comes when we shrink from them.
Quote examples
Alfred North Whitehead
English Mathematician
Knowledge shrinks as wisdom grows.
Example 1 of 10
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