dwindle
Valid in Scrabble
- Scrabble points
- 12
- Words With Friends
- 14
- Letters
- 7
Definition of dwindle
4 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included
verb
-
(intransitive)To decrease, shrink, diminish, reduce in size or intensity.
“Their supplies began to dwindle after a week.”
“Interest in the project slowly dwindled.”
“dwindle away”
“dwindle to nothing”
“dwindle steadily”
See all 4 definitions Show less
verb
-
(intransitive)To decrease, shrink, diminish, reduce in size or intensity.
“Their supplies began to dwindle after a week.”
“Interest in the project slowly dwindled.”
“dwindle away”
“dwindle to nothing”
“dwindle steadily”
-
(figuratively, intransitive)To fall away in quality; degenerate, sink.
“VVearie Seu'nights, nine times nine, / Shall he dvvindle, peake, and pine: […]”
“Religious Societies, though begun with excellent Intention, and by Perſons of true Piety, have dwindled into factious Clubs; […]”
“The flattery of his friends began to dwindle into simple approbation.”
“The larger the empire, the more dwindles the mind of the citizen.”
“[I]nfected tulips are weakened by the viruses that cause the very patterns and swirls that fascinated horticulturists and investors in the first place. Such bulbs tend to dwindle away instead of fattening up and producing offsets.”
-
(transitive)To lessen; to bring low.
“Our drooping days are dwindled down to nought.”
-
To break up or disperse.
“there were only five hundred foot and three hundred horse left with him, for the blocking of Plymouth; the rest were dwindled away”
Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.
Etymology
Frequentative form of dwine, from Middle English dwinen, from Old English dwīnan (“to waste away”), from Proto-West Germanic *dwīnan, from Proto-Germanic *dwīnaną. It is equivalent to dwine + -le, akin to Old Norse dvena, dvína, Dutch verdwijnen (“to disappear, dwindle”).
Words you can make from dwindle
65 playable · top: WINDLED (12 pts)
Best play windled 12 points6-letter words
6 words5-letter words
9 words4-letter words
21 words3-letter words
18 words2-letter words
10 wordsHooks
2 extensions · 2 back
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