Shrivel
verb
To become smaller or dry and wrinkled due to loss of moisture or heat.
The leaves shrivel up in the hot sun.
Often appears as...
- shrivel up
- shrivel into nothing
verb
To cause distress or embarrassment, making someone feel small or insignificant.
His harsh words made her shrivel inside.
Often appears as...
- shrivel with embarrassment
- shrivel in shame
Usage tips
Disapproving
Colloquial
verb
To become smaller or dry and wrinkled due to loss of moisture or heat.
The leaves shrivel up in the hot sun.
Often appears as...
- shrivel up
- shrivel into nothing
verb
To cause distress or embarrassment, making someone feel small or insignificant.
His harsh words made her shrivel inside.
Often appears as...
- shrivel with embarrassment
- shrivel in shame
Usage tips
Disapproving
Colloquial
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Change
Indicates a tangible transformation in size and texture, usually due to environmental effects.
Plums shrivel into prunes when dried.
Pro Tip 2/3Natural Process
Often used to describe aging or the end of a lifecycle for plants and other natural organisms.
Flowers begin to shrivel as winter approaches.
Pro Tip 3/3Negative Connotation
Conveys unpleasant or undesirable effects; rarely used positively.
Without water, the crops started to shrivel.
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Change
Indicates a tangible transformation in size and texture, usually due to environmental effects.
Plums shrivel into prunes when dried.
Pro Tip 2/3Natural Process
Often used to describe aging or the end of a lifecycle for plants and other natural organisms.
Flowers begin to shrivel as winter approaches.
Pro Tip 3/3Negative Connotation
Conveys unpleasant or undesirable effects; rarely used positively.
Without water, the crops started to shrivel.
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Change
Indicates a tangible transformation in size and texture, usually due to environmental effects.
Plums shrivel into prunes when dried.
Pro Tip 2/3Natural Process
Often used to describe aging or the end of a lifecycle for plants and other natural organisms.
Flowers begin to shrivel as winter approaches.
Pro Tip 3/3Negative Connotation
Conveys unpleasant or undesirable effects; rarely used positively.
Without water, the crops started to shrivel.
Never forget "Shrivel"
Humans forget easily. That's why you should download WordUp: Smart reminders, word games, AI practice, and much more!
Video examples
The bug that poops candy...
When that sap touches the insect’s cells, its high sugar content encourages the water in the cells to come out by osmosis… exactly like salt encourages water to come out of a slug. The more sap that passes through the insect, the more water it loses. Eventually, it shrivels up and dies.
Video examples
The first 21 days of a...
and the pigment slowly develops in their eyes. The last step of the process is their skin shrivels up and they sprout hair.
Video examples
Amazing Time-Lapse: Bees...
their eyes in the last step their skin shrivels up and they sprout hair
Video examples
The bug that poops candy...
When that sap touches the insect’s cells, its high sugar content encourages the water in the cells to come out by osmosis… exactly like salt encourages water to come out of a slug. The more sap that passes through the insect, the more water it loses. Eventually, it shrivels up and dies.
Video examples
The first 21 days of a...
and the pigment slowly develops in their eyes. The last step of the process is their skin shrivels up and they sprout hair.
Video examples
Amazing Time-Lapse: Bees...
their eyes in the last step their skin shrivels up and they sprout hair
Example 1 of 3
Quote examples
Susan Vreeland
American Author
Where there is no human connection, there is no compassion. Without compassion, then community, commitment, loving-kindness, human understanding, and peace all shrivel. Individuals become isolated, the isolated turn cruel, and the tragic hovers in the forms of domestic and civil violence. Art and literature are antidotes to that.
Quote examples
Cate Blanchett
Australian Actress
Actresses can get outrageously precious about the way they look. That's not what life's about. If you starve yourself to the point where your brain cells shrivel, you will never do good work. And if you're overly conscious of your arms flapping in the wind, how can you look the other actor in the eye to respond to them?
Quote examples
Alexa Chung
English Journalist
My brain is a big cluster of stuff. It moves quickly and loses focus quickly, so I need many projects to keep me stimulated - it's a luxury to be able to do lots of different things: style, write, present, DJ or just consult. It can't be any other way; I think I would shrivel up and fall asleep forever.
Quote examples
John Updike
American Novelist
Some golfers, we are told, enjoy the landscape; but properly, the landscape shrivels and compresses into the grim, surrealistically vivid patch of grass directly under the golfer's eyes as he morosely walks toward where he thinks his ball might be.
Quote examples
Guy Standing
English Actor
Successive governments in the U.K. have worked to create a more flexible labour market, which also meant labour insecurity. They allowed wages to drop and non-wage benefits to shrivel, creating worse inequality than statistics reveal.
Quote examples
Robert Green Ingersoll
American Lawyer
The mind cannot be securely anchored. If we do not advance, we go backward. If we do not grow, we decay. If we do not develop, we shrink and shrivel.
Quote examples
Steven Crowder
Canadian Actor
One of my goals in life is to watch political correctness shrivel up and die (as it should be for any true conservative).
Quote examples
Orson Welles
American Actor
Anybody who speaks quietly and shrivels up in company is unbelievably arrogant.
Quote examples
Stanley Marcus
American Businessman
Designers may find the fashion business can shrivel up.
Quote examples
Miroslav Volf
Croatian Theologian
Faith idles when character shrivels.
Quote examples
Susan Vreeland
American Author
Where there is no human connection, there is no compassion. Without compassion, then community, commitment, loving-kindness, human understanding, and peace all shrivel. Individuals become isolated, the isolated turn cruel, and the tragic hovers in the forms of domestic and civil violence. Art and literature are antidotes to that.
Quote examples
Cate Blanchett
Australian Actress
Actresses can get outrageously precious about the way they look. That's not what life's about. If you starve yourself to the point where your brain cells shrivel, you will never do good work. And if you're overly conscious of your arms flapping in the wind, how can you look the other actor in the eye to respond to them?
Quote examples
Alexa Chung
English Journalist
My brain is a big cluster of stuff. It moves quickly and loses focus quickly, so I need many projects to keep me stimulated - it's a luxury to be able to do lots of different things: style, write, present, DJ or just consult. It can't be any other way; I think I would shrivel up and fall asleep forever.
Quote examples
John Updike
American Novelist
Some golfers, we are told, enjoy the landscape; but properly, the landscape shrivels and compresses into the grim, surrealistically vivid patch of grass directly under the golfer's eyes as he morosely walks toward where he thinks his ball might be.
Quote examples
Guy Standing
English Actor
Successive governments in the U.K. have worked to create a more flexible labour market, which also meant labour insecurity. They allowed wages to drop and non-wage benefits to shrivel, creating worse inequality than statistics reveal.
Quote examples
Robert Green Ingersoll
American Lawyer
The mind cannot be securely anchored. If we do not advance, we go backward. If we do not grow, we decay. If we do not develop, we shrink and shrivel.
Quote examples
Steven Crowder
Canadian Actor
One of my goals in life is to watch political correctness shrivel up and die (as it should be for any true conservative).
Quote examples
Orson Welles
American Actor
Anybody who speaks quietly and shrivels up in company is unbelievably arrogant.
Quote examples
Stanley Marcus
American Businessman
Designers may find the fashion business can shrivel up.
Quote examples
Miroslav Volf
Croatian Theologian
Faith idles when character shrivels.
Example 1 of 10
WordUp Chrome Extension
As you browse the web instantly look up words you don’t know.
Get Chrome Extension