# withering

Pronunciation: say "WITH-er-ing" /ˈwɪðəɹɪŋ/

## Adjective

1. Scornful in a way that humiliates, tending to make the person on the receiving end feel small.
   - Simple: Showing so little respect that it makes someone feel small and ashamed.
   - _The senator faced withering criticism from both parties after the leaked emails appeared._
   - _It was the most withering review she had ever written, dismissing the play in three sentences._
3. Likely to destroy, devastate, or overwhelm completely.
   - Simple: Strong enough to destroy or crush whatever it hits.
   - _The patrol was pinned down by withering fire from the ridge for most of the afternoon._
   - _The champion set a withering pace in the final laps that left the rest of the field far behind._
4. Shrinking or declining rapidly.
   - Simple: Getting smaller or less very quickly.
   - _The candidate's withering support in the polls forced her out of the race by spring._
   - _Rising costs and a withering customer base pushed the family business into bankruptcy._

## Verb

2. Present participle and gerund of wither. — present participle and gerund of wither
   - Simple: Present participle and gerund of wither. Use it after is, are, or was, or as the name of the action.
   - _Without investment, the town's once-busy port has been withering for decades._
   - _Regular watering will keep the seedlings from withering during the dry spell._

## Noun

5. The process of drying up, shrinking, or losing strength.
   - Simple: The process of something drying up or losing its strength.
   - _Drought caused a steady withering of crops across the region._
   - _Historians trace the withering of the town's industries to the closing of the railroad._

## Origin

Formed from wither and the suffix -ing.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/withering (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).