How to use shrink in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Shrink means to cause to become smaller. Example: “The dryer shrank my sweater.”

Examples of shrink by meaning

verbTo cause to become smaller.

The dryer shrank my sweater.
The bottom line is this: To shrink your gut, you need to start listening to it.2008 October, David Schipper, “Outsmart your stomach: Seven ways to fill your gut—and lose it, too”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 8...

verbTo become smaller; to contract.

This garment will shrink when wet.
Since 1982, it has shrunk by 250 meters.2018, VOA Learning English > China's Melting Glacier Brings Visitors, Adds to Climate Concerns
When they took over the 1000 'Flying Scotsman' from May 1979, the journey from London to Edinburgh shrank to just 4hrs 37mins - including a stop at Newcastle.2021 October 6, Greg Morse, “A need for speed and the drive for 125”, in RAIL, number 941, page 52

verbTo cower or flinch.

Molly shrank away from the blows of the whip.

verbTo withdraw or retire, as from danger.

The other patients in the ward, all but the Texan, shrank from him with a tenderhearted aversion from the moment they set eyes on him the morning after the night he had been sneaked in.1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 169

nounLoss of inventory, for example due to shoplifting or not selling items before their expiration date.

Assuming the retailer's shrink is average or below, and the owner is comfortable with the level of shrink, perhaps nothing more need be done except to maintain vigilance and to monitor the shrink for signs of emerging problems.2011, Charles Sennewald, John Christman, Retail Crime, Security, and Loss Prevention: An Encyclopedic Reference, page 227

More sentences with shrink

Socks can’t be boiled up in the copper with the sheets and towels or they shrink.From the entry copper
I need some sort of cutting utensil to get through this shrink wrap.From the entry cutting
June, no shrinking violet she, crossed the room and introduced herself to the newcomers.From the entry shrinking violet
The news hole just keeps shrinking. Soon, the paper will be just ads.From the entry news hole
They applied the good old grocery shrink ray and yet they also raised the price as well!From the entry grocery shrink ray
The city's borders have shrunk twice through deannexation over the past decade.From the entry deannexation
Retail analysts must understand the shrink rates of the businesses whose performance they forecast.From the entry shrink rate
The brook had shrunk to a mere trickle.From the entry trickle
The ice cap of Kilimanjaro is shrinking, and some researchers believe it will disappear within the next one hundred years.From the entry ice cap
Patternmakers, moldmakers, diemakers, and toolmakers must understand the shrink rates of the materials involved in the casting, molding, and stamping processes.From the entry shrink rate
On this episode of Interstellar Voyagers From Uranus, our heroes encounter a planet where shrink rays threaten to trap them inside a terrarium as an alien's pets!From the entry shrink ray
Germany, once a great footballing nation, four-time world champion, has shrunk to a footballing minnow.2026 June 30, Kate Connolly, quoting Peter Ahrens, “Unhappy families: Matthäus claims Germany travel plans caused World Cup rift”, in The…. From the entry minnow
In microgravity their arteries are thickening and stiffening and the muscle of the heart weakening and shrinking.2023, Samantha Harvey, Orbital, Jonathan Cape, page 25. From the entry microgravity
These grown-up children were at that hinge of life when parents must begin to shrink and fold.2022, Ian McEwan, Lessons, page 388. From the entry hinge
Cheap fitted diapers can result in poor cloth diaper experiences (shrink, poor fit, lack of absorbency).2021, Bailey Bouwman, Cloth Diapers: The Ultimate Guidelines to Textiles, Washing & More, Simply Bailey Social Marketing, →ISBN, page 228. From the entry flat diaper
The old tales told of these noble animals sighted padding across clodded fields or circling shrinking copses.2017, Benjamin Myers, The Gallows Pole, Bloomsbury, published 2019, page 155. From the entry carr
Like thieves, square johns are a shrinking proportion of the American inmate population.2017, David Musick, Kristine Gunsaulus-Musick, American Prisons: Their Past, Present and Future, page 27. From the entry square john
As the wildebeest shrinks, the circle of sated birds lounging in the short grass expands.2015 December, Elizabeth Royte, “Vultures Are Revolting. Here’s Why We Need to Save Them.”, in National Geographic, archived from the…. From the entry crop
Income inequality usually shrinks during a recession, but in the Great Recession, it didn’t.2011 July 25, Don Peck, “Can the Middle Class Be Saved?”, in The Atlantic. From the entry Great Recession
But when the pie is shrinking, social groups are more likely to turn on each other.2010 December 4, Evan Thomas, “Why It’s Time to Worry”, in Newsweek. From the entry pie
In such information systems, the period of a debt instrument shrinks to nano-seconds.2010, G[ale] A[lden] Swanson, “An Analysis of the Imbursement of Currency in a Debt-based Money-information System”, in David [B.]…. From the entry imburse
AFM surface height map and 2D profile showing the dynamic shrinking of a colocasia leaf.2006, Bharat Bhushan, editor, Applied Scanning Probe Methods III: Characterization. From the entry colocasia
Industrial and rural expansion is shrinking and destroying the Nile crocodile's natural habitat.2005, Mwelwa Musambachime, Basic Facts on Zambia, page 97. From the entry crocodile
Onions do a disappearing act as they cook, shrinking about 80 percent of their volume.2001, Richard Azzolini, There's a Chef in Your Freezer. From the entry disappearing act
Skin the fish before cooking since the skin shrinks as it cooks and misshapens the fillets.1997, Kay Pastorius, Cruising Cuisine: Fresh Food From the Galley, Camden, Me.: International Marine, a division of The McGraw-Hill…. From the entry misshapen
Hale-Bopp, the incredible shrinking moon, the medieval kooks and the modern-day wackos—and me.1997 April 3, Scott Sharplin, “Boppin’ Along to the Tune of the Millennium”, in The Gateway, volume 86, number 45, page 24. From the entry awe-ful
But it seemed to have left her vocabulary, which shrinks like her poor spine.1993, Margaret Helen Young, Fringe Kitchens, Davis, Calif.: University of California, Davis, →OCLC, page 169. From the entry chocolatoholic
The number of gay organizations, thus the number of organized gays are shrinking, not growing.1981 December 12, Steve Rose, “Some People's Congress”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 21, page 4. From the entry fightback
Nor should hippophobes shrink away; though the story reeks of horses it is not horsy.1935, Time (volume 25, part 2, page 69). From the entry hippophobe
But it seems that for some reason he has shrunk from continuing the challenge.1924, Paul Rosenfeld, “Van Wyck Brooks”, in Port of New York: Essays on Fourteen American Moderns, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and…. From the entry folkway
To my mind, those who thus shrink afford thereby but evidences of their psychological enthralldom.1907, Alfred Emanuel Smith, New Outlook. From the entry enthralldom
Many overpackers rave about compression sacks, which can shrink your stuff down to about a third of the original size.2024 December 3, Maria Adelmann, “Overpacking 101: The No-Shame Guide to Stuffing Your Suitcase Silly”, in Wirecutter. From the entry overpacker

Meaning of shrink

verb To cause to become smaller.
verb To become smaller; to contract.
verb To cower or flinch.

Full definition of shrink

Questions about shrink in a sentence

How do you use shrink in a sentence?: Shrink is used as a verb and noun. For example: “The dryer shrank my sweater.”
What is a short sentence with shrink?: “The dryer shrank my sweater.”
What does shrink mean?: Shrink means to cause to become smaller.

Adapted from Wiktionary: shrink (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use shrink in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/shrink. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.