shrivel
/ˈʃɹɪvəl/
shrivel verb: to collapse inward; to crumble.
Verb
shrivel (third-person singular simple present shrivels, present participle (US) shriveling or (UK) shrivelling, simple past and past participle (US) shriveled or (UK) shrivelled)
- To collapse inward; to crumble.
- The plant shrivelled from lack of water.
- This Upside Down economy was the product, Hansen said, of a shriveling population, the closing of the frontier and the maturing of industries.2019 August 13, Greg Rosalsky, “Is Our Economy In The Upside Down?”, in NPR, archived from the original on 01 Feb 2020
- To become wrinkled.
- His fingers were shriveled from being in the bath for too long.
- To draw into wrinkles.
- The hot sun shrivelled the leaves.
shrivel meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
shrivel in Tamil
- to shrivel, shrink, as leaf
- சுருள் curuḷ
- to shrivel, shrink
- சுண்டு cuṇṭu
shrivel in Urdu
- سمٹنا
shrivel in Bengali
- শুঁকিয়ে যাওয়া, কুঁচকে যাওয়া
shrivel in Malayalam
- ഉണങ്ങിച്ചുക്കിചുളിയുക, സങ്കോചിക്കുക, ശുഷ്കിക്കുക, ചുരുങ്ങുക
More languagesFewer languages
- shrivel in Kannada
- ಮುರುಟು, ಸುಕ್ಕಾಗು, ಸುರ್ಕುಗೊಳಿಸು, ಸುರ್ಕುವೆರು
- shrivel in Persian
- ترنجیدن toronjidan
Examples of shrivel in a sentence
- Her lips looked too shriveled to close over her teeth.
- A prune is a shrivelled plum.
- A prune is a shriveled plum.
Forms of shrivel
| third-person singular present | shrivels |
|---|---|
| present participle US | shriveling |
| present participle UK | shrivelling |
| past participle US | shriveled |
| past US | shriveled |
| past participle UK | shrivelled |
| past UK | shrivelled |
Origin of shrivel
First recorded as shriveled (“shrivelled”), probably of North Germanic origin related to dialectal Swedish skryvla (“to wrinkle, shrivel”); perhaps ultimately related to Proto-Germanic *skrinkwaną (“to shrivel, shrink”) or *skrimpaną (“to shrink”).
Words formed from shrivel
Words that rhyme with shrivel
Questions about shrivel
- What does shrivel mean?
- Shrivel means to collapse inward; to crumble.
- What is shrivel in Tamil?
- Shrivel in Tamil is சுருள் (curuḷ), சுண்டு (cuṇṭu). See Shrivel meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is shrivel?
- Shrivel is a verb.
- How do you pronounce shrivel?
- Shrivel is pronounced /ˈʃɹɪvəl/.
- What is the past tense of shrivel?
- The past tense of shrivel is shriveled.
Words near shrivel in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shrivel (page history and authors); சுண்டு (Tamil) (page history and authors); shrivel (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); shrivel (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); shrivel (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); shrivel (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-shrivel.ogg.
Cite this entry: “shrivel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shrivel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.