Definition
To shrink is to grow smaller — to contract in size, amount, or extent. Wool shrinks in hot water; a glacier shrinks as it melts; a market shrinks when buyers vanish. The word carries a second, bodily sense too: to shrink back is to flinch and recoil, pulling inward away from something feared. Both meanings share one motion — a drawing-in, a retreat from the space once filled. What shrinks does not merely lessen; it withdraws, leaving the outline of what it used to be.
Examples
- The lake has shrunk to half its size as years of drought slowly deplete it.
- Demand shrank so fast that even robust firms struggled to survive.
- She shrank back from the edge of the precarious cliff, suddenly aware of the drop.
Collocations
shrink in size·shrink back·a shrinking market·shrink from a challenge·rapidly shrinking
Synonyms
contract·diminish·dwindle·recoil·shrivel
Antonyms
expand·grow·swell
Word family
shrinkage (noun)·shrunken (adjective)·shrinking (adjective)
In TOEFL & IELTS
Irregular verb — shrink, shrank, shrunk; examiners notice the forms. The literal sense suits IELTS Task 1 ('the market shrank by 10%') and environmental writing ('shrinking ice caps'). The figurative shrink from (avoid out of fear) is useful in Speaking and essays ('she never shrinks from a challenge'). A common trap is using 'shrink' for deliberate reduction — prefer 'cut' or 'reduce' when an agent does it on purpose.