shrink

Formsshrinks, shrinking, shrank, shrunk

Pluralshrinks

1. 1
   get smallerverbintransitive

   To become smaller in size or amount, or to make something smaller.

   Metal parts shrink slightly as they cool.

   The glacier has shrunk dramatically over the past century.

   UsagePast shrank, past participle shrunk: it has shrunk (not incorrect: has shrank).

   Similarcontract, decrease, diminish, dwindle, reduce

   Oppositeexpand, grow, swell, increase

   Note

   Often nothing acts on the thing and it simply gets smaller, though something can also shrink it, as a hot wash shrinks wool. Writers have used the plain form for centuries. Francis Bacon's Sylva Sylvarum reports that he has not found water mixed with ashes to "shrink or draw into less room." Dryden in 1667 has people "shrink like parchment in consuming flame." Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

   • A hot wash can shrink wool. whirlpool.com
   • Writers have used the plain form shrink for centuries. gutenberg.org
   • Francis Bacon's Sylva Sylvarum contains the stated observation and quoted words. en.wiktionary.org
   • The Dryden poem containing the quotation, Annus Mirabilis, was first published in 1667. celm.folger.edu
   • Dryden uses the exact words quoted, describing people collectively in the king's prayer in Annus Mirabilis, stanza 266. gutenberg.org
2. 2
   therapistnounslangcountable

   An informal, sometimes disparaging word for a psychiatrist or psychotherapist.

   After months of insomnia, she booked an appointment with a shrink.

   The detective joked that he needed a shrink after such a stressful case.

   Similarhead-shrinker, shrinker

   Note

   Slang that began as a longer joke: shrink is clipped from head-shrinker, and both that form and shrinker remain in use. The tone runs from rueful (the narrator of Green Day's 1994 song "Basket Case" consults one) to insulting, as when someone is told to go and get help from one, so keep it out of clinical or formal writing. It stretches easily to anyone who hears out troubles, like Laline Paull's barista and "unofficial shrink." Source

   Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

   • The psychiatric sense of shrink is clipped from head-shrinker. en.wiktionary.org
   • The longer expression originated as a figurative joke. en.wiktionary.org
   • Basket Case is a Green Day song released in 1994. en.wikipedia.org
   • The song's narrator consults a shrink. youtube.com
   • Laline Paull described a barista as an unofficial shrink. en.wiktionary.org
3. 3
   avoidverbfigurativelyintransitive

   To withdraw or retire from something, as from danger or difficulty.

   A good leader does not shrink from tough decisions.

   They shrank from the responsibility once they understood the risks.

   UsageUsually shrink from + noun or -ing: shrink from telling the truth.

   Similarshy, flinch, balk, recoil, retreat

   Oppositeface, confront, embrace

   Note

   The retreat of the will rather than the body, usually built with from plus a task, a duty or a person. Jowett's Thucydides puts it as "when you shrank from the task," and Heller's patients "shrank from him." Pope uses at instead ("shrink at with affright"). Where the physical recoil moves someone away, this sense needs no step back at all, only reluctance. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • Jowett's translation of Thucydides contains “when you shrank from the task.” en.wikisource.org
   • Heller describes hospital patients who “shrank from him” in Catch-22. en.wiktionary.org
   • Pope uses “shrink at with affright.” en.wikisource.org
4. 4
   recoilverbintransitive

   To move or draw back, or to cower or flinch, especially out of fear or disgust.

   He shrank from the snake coiled on the path.

   Patients sometimes shrink from the needle during a blood test.

   UsageOften shrink back or shrink from something.

   Similarrecoil, flinch, cringe, withdraw

5. 5
   noununcountable

   Contraction, or the amount by which something becomes smaller; also, a sudden drawing back or recoil.

   The pattern leaves extra cloth to allow for shrink during the first wash.

   Casting molds are made a little oversized to make up for the shrink that happens as hot metal cools.

   Similarcontraction

   Oppositeexpansion

   Note

   The noun carries two quite different pictures. Leigh Hunt in 1818 writes of a "sudden shrink," a flinch of feeling that matches the recoiling verb. Workshop talk uses the same noun for the measurable contraction of cloth or metal, where shrinkage says the same thing. Context alone tells the reader whether the shrink is emotional or physical. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • Hunt's Foliage was published in 1818. en.wikipedia.org
   • Hunt uses “sudden shrink” for an emotional reaction in his poem about his sick son. lordbyron.org

Showing meanings only. Show all 6