SHRINK (shrank, shrunk, shrunken)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: shrank    , shrunk    , shrunken   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does shrink mean? 

• SHRINK (noun)
  The noun SHRINK has 1 sense:

1. a physician who specializes in psychiatry

  Familiarity information: SHRINK used as a noun is very rare.

• SHRINK (verb)
  The verb SHRINK has 5 senses:

1. wither, as with a loss of moisture

2. draw back, as with fear or pain

3. reduce in size; reduce physically

4. become smaller or draw together

5. decrease in size, range, or extent

  Familiarity information: SHRINK used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHRINK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A physician who specializes in psychiatry

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

head-shrinker; psychiatrist; shrink

Hypernyms ("shrink" is a kind of...):

medical specialist; specialist (practices one branch of medicine)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shrink"):

analyst; psychoanalyst (a licensed practitioner of psychoanalysis)

alienist (a psychiatrist and specialist in the legal aspects of mental illness)

Instance hyponyms:

Horney; Karen Danielsen Horney; Karen Horney (United States psychiatrist (1885-1952))

Jaspers; Karl Jaspers; Karl Theodor Jaspers (German psychiatrist (1883-1969))

Charles Frederick Menninger; Charles Menninger; Menninger (United States psychiatrist who with his sons founded a famous psychiatric clinic in Topeka (1862-1953))

Karl Augustus Menninger; Karl Menninger; Menninger (United States psychiatrist and son of Charles Menninger (1893-1990))

Menninger; William Claire Menninger; William Menninger (United States psychiatrist and son of Charles Menninger (1899-1966))

Harry Stack Sullivan; Sullivan (United States psychiatrist (1892-1949))

• SHRINK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they shrink    ... he / she / it shrinks   
Past simple: shrank   
Past participle: shrunk    / shrunken   
-ing form: shrinking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Wither, as with a loss of moisture

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

shrink; shrivel; shrivel up; wither

Context example:

The fruit dried and shriveled

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

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

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "shrink"):

atrophy (undergo atrophy)

blast (shrivel or wither or mature imperfectly)

die back; die down (suffer from a disease that kills shoots)

dry up; mummify (dry up and shrivel due to complete loss of moisture)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Draw back, as with fear or pain

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

cringe; flinch; funk; quail; recoil; shrink; squinch; wince

Context example:

she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf

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

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "shrink"):

retract; shrink back (pull away from a source of disgust or fear)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Reduce in size; reduce physically

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

reduce; shrink

Context example:

Can you shrink this image?

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

decrease; lessen; minify (make smaller)

Cause:

contract; shrink (become smaller or draw together)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "shrink"):

reef (reduce (a sail) by taking in a reef)

contract (make smaller)

downsize (design or manufacture in a smaller size)

depopulate; desolate (reduce in population)

miniaturise; miniaturize (design or construct on a smaller scale)

reduce; scale down (make smaller)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

shrinkage; shrinking (process or result of becoming less or smaller)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Become smaller or draw together

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

contract; shrink

Context example:

The balloon shrank

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

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

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "shrink"):

flex (contract)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence example:

These fabrics shrink easily

Antonym:

stretch (become longer by being stretched and pulled)

Derivation:

shrinkage (process or result of becoming less or smaller)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Decrease in size, range, or extent

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

shrink; shrivel

Context example:

My courage shrivelled when I saw the task before me

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

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

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence example:

Their earnings shrink this year

Derivation:

shrinking (the act of becoming less)

 Context examples 

This latest storm was first seen in 2015, but is now shrinking.

(Hubble Sees Neptune's Mysterious Shrinking Storm, NASA)

Agnes saw it too, I think, for she shrank from him.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Rather than increasing in volume, the liquid shrinks and becomes denser.

(Ganymede may harbor 'club sandwich' of oceans and ice, NASA)

A disorder characterized by shrinking of adipose tissue.

(Adipose Tissue Atrophy, NCI Thesaurus/CTCAE)

The failure of a cancer to shrink after treatment.

(Clinical resistance, NCI Dictionary)

One Eye sprang back with a snort of sudden fright, then shrank down to the snow and crouched, snarling threats at this thing of fear he did not understand.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

A condition in which the stomach muscles shrink and become weak.

(Chronic Atrophic Gastritis, NCI Dictionary)

There may be a solemn duty; and if it come we must not shrink from it....

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Then, too, there was the counter impulse to shrink away from him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

From such a connection she could not wonder that he would shrink.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)