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dwindle

[dwin-dl]

Example Sentences Origin

verb (used without object)

to become smaller and smaller; shrink; waste away: His vast fortune has dwindled away.

to fall away, as in quality; degenerate.

verb (used with object)

to make smaller and smaller; cause to shrink: Failing health dwindles ambition.

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Dwindle is one of our favorite verbs.

So is kibitz. Does it mean:

chat, to converse

to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.

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Origin:
1590–1600; dwine (now dial.) to waste away (Middle English; Old English dwīnan; cognate with Middle Dutch dwīnen to languish, Old Norse dvīna to pine away) + -le

Related forms

un·dwin·dling, adjective

Synonyms
1. diminish, decline, lessen, wane. See decrease. 3. lessen.

Antonyms
1. increase. 3. magnify.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To dwindle

Example Sentences

But after the first couple of years, production tends to drop off precipitously, and the royalty checks will dwindle.

Tuition will increase across all higher-education sectors and state-financed student aid will continue to dwindle or remain flat.

British political parties have seen their memberships dwindle over decades.

EXPAND

But after the first couple of years, production tends to drop off precipitously, and the royalty checks will dwindle.

Tuition will increase across all higher-education sectors and state-financed student aid will continue to dwindle or remain flat.

British political parties have seen their memberships dwindle over decades.

The expedition's food supplies soon began to dwindle.

As food supplies dwindle populations sustained by aid will have to fend for themselves.

When blood supplies dwindle a solution must be found.

Groupon argues that its enormous marketing budget is both necessary now and will dwindle over time.

As gifts to colleges are beginning to dwindle every penny that can be collected counts.

At the same time stocks of older products dwindle putting upward pressure on the price.

Most fish move in and out of the areas as water sources dwindle.

Eventually the telomeres dwindle to the point where the cell can no longer replicate.

If enough people do, their ad dollars will dwindle and then let us see who they suck up to.

In several countries taxes will rise and public services will dwindle.

The flood of crude from fields around the world will ultimately top out, then dwindle.

The problem is that the food supply may dwindle by the time their young are born.

But, after a while, the number of balls started to dwindle.

Household utilities are becoming more costly as subsidies dwindle.

Morale started to dwindle when the upper leads fizzled into rabbit holes.

They prove wonderfully effective at first, only to dwindle into uselessness.

Many reptiles and insects have also become threatened as their habitats dwindle.

The possibility that tax receipts will dwindle is not lost on the number-crunchers.

Over the years therefore the harvest appeared to dwindle in dollar terms, and his debts grew.

The number of workers building up pension rights will dwindle and pensioners die off.

In the short run this provides calm, but in the long run, it makes democracy hopes dwindle.

They should save their resources for down the road when the natural resource starts to dwindle and people panic.

Once the tribunal gives its final ruling, his support may dwindle.

Another reason to step up the pace of reform is that the flood of taxpayers' money will shortly dwindle to a trickle.

But as the wayward decisions mount up, his support is starting to dwindle.

As your means to repay dwindle your debt actually grows.

For governments, the advent of electric cars means fuel-tax receipts will dwindle because drivers will buy less gasoline.

The strike enters its fifth month and picketers begin to dwindle in the cold of winter.

They worried that the number of applicants would dwindle and the number of dropouts would surge.

Conservationists try to keep rare parrots alive in captivity as their numbers dwindle in the wild.

Many birds lose what they don't use during the winter, letting hormone concentrations dwindle and reproductive organs shrink.

Or her audience can dwindle further, as old fans stop going to the concerts, leaving only the die-hards.

So the rich get richer, and those of us in the middle dwindle into the lower echelons of the departmental salary structure.

Rapid prototyping will slowly dwindle away, and eventually won't be used at all.

The bank's bond and stockholders have seen their investments dwindle to virtually nothing.

Churches either moved or saw their congregations dwindle and age, with funerals far outnumbering baptisms and weddings.

Although the dial-up business still generates a mountain of cash, that is likely to dwindle.

All that water-already a loss to the ice sheet-could be causing the ice to dwindle even faster.

The number of holdouts to digital music continues to dwindle.

Over time, controlled colonies stop reproducing and their numbers dwindle to something manageable.

It is true, sometimes, that your candidacy may dwindle to being in queue in case someone else doesn't work out or declines.

After all, he has allowed green taxes to dwindle as a share of overall taxation while he has been at the.

When it does, internet business will dwindle too, and the shooting-star stocks with it.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

dwindle (ˈdwɪnd^əl)

—vb
	to grow or cause to grow less in size, intensity, or number; diminish or shrink gradually

[C16: from Old English dwīnan to waste away; related to Old Norse dvīna to pine away]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

dwindle

1590s, apparently dim. and freq. of M.E. dwinen "waste away, fade, vanish," from O.E. dwinan, from P.Gmc. *dwinanan (cf. Du. dwijnen "to vanish"). Related: Dwindled; dwindling.

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dwindle

dwin·dle