MEANING
1. To contract and become wrinkled, often through drying or heat.
2. To decrease sharply in size, strength, or importance.
Use it for
organic matter contracting; a dry wrinkled surface; shrinkage distinguished from swelling or tearing
Words that belong together
- skin shrivels
- shrivel in the heat
On the page
The skin shriveled around the darkened edge of the wound.
The husks shriveled in the heat while their contents remained strangely moist.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- shrivel
- Past tense
- shriveled or shrivelled
- Past participle
- shriveled or shrivelled
- Present participle
- shriveling or shrivelling
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- shrivel
- Present continuous
- am/is/are shriveling or shrivelling
- Present perfect
- have/has shriveled or shrivelled
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been shriveling or shrivelling
- Past
- shriveled or shrivelled
- Past continuous
- was/were shriveling or shrivelling
- Past perfect
- had shriveled or shrivelled
- Past perfect continuous
- had been shriveling or shrivelling
- Future
- will shrivel
- Future continuous
- will be shriveling or shrivelling
- Future perfect
- will have shriveled or shrivelled
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been shriveling or shrivelling
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: horror. Forms: shrivel; shrivels; shriveled or shrivelled; shriveled or shrivelled; shriveling or shrivelling Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: shrivels.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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