DWINDLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does dwindle mean? 

• DWINDLE (verb)
  The verb DWINDLE has 1 sense:

1. become smaller or lose substance

  Familiarity information: DWINDLE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DWINDLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they dwindle    ... he / she / it dwindles   
Past simple: dwindled   
Past participle: dwindled   
-ing form: dwindling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become smaller or lose substance

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

dwindle; dwindle away; dwindle down

Context example:

Her savings dwindled down

Hypernyms (to "dwindle" is one way to...):

decrease; diminish; fall; lessen (decrease in size, extent, or range)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

dwindling (a becoming gradually less)

 Context examples 

Then it was that I began, if I may so Shakespearianly express myself, to dwindle, peak, and pine.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Buck’s one hundred and forty pounds had dwindled to one hundred and fifteen.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Tragedy had dwindled, the farce had begun.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

As seal and whale populations dwindled, a surplus of krill was likely available.

(Whaling and climate change lead to 100 years of feast or famine for Antarctic penguins, National Science Foundation)

“Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department,” said Holmes, with a smile, when the dwindling frou-frou of skirts had ended in the slam of the front door.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The god remained quiet, made no movement; and White Fang's snarl slowly dwindled to a growl that ebbed down in his throat and ceased.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

No one came to talk to her, and one by one the group dwindled away till she was left alone.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The legend of Erik the Red itself may mask what Barrett calls “ecological globalisation”: the chasing of natural resources as supply dwindles.

(Over-hunting walruses contributed to the collapse of Norse Greenland, University of Cambridge)

We heard the dwindling roar of the wheels upon the cobblestones until they died away in the distance.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

According to Cheetah Conservation Project Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe's cheetah population dwindled from an estimated 1,500 in 1999 to 150–170 in 2013–2015, a roughly 85% decline.

(Around 7,100 cheetahs remain, say experts, Wikinews)