dwindle
To become smaller or fewer, little by little.
dwindle in a sentence
- As winter dragged on, the squirrels' store of nuts dwindled until only a handful remained.
- Watch the campfire dwindle to a few glowing embers as the night grows colder.
Try an 11+ style question
Verbal reasoning papers often ask about a word like this.
Which word is closest in meaning to dwindle?
- Agrow
- Bswell
- Cshrink
- Dincrease
Show the answer
C: shrink. The other three mean the opposite of dwindle.
Which word is most nearly opposite in meaning to dwindle?
- Ashrink
- Bgrow
- Clessen
- Dfade
Show the answer
B: grow. The other three mean nearly the same as dwindle.
Words that mean something similar
shrink, fade, lessen
Words that mean the opposite
grow, swell, increase
More words about size & amount
- economical: Careful not to waste money, time or materials.
- enormous: Extremely large.
- estimate: To work out roughly how much or how many, without counting exactly.
- extraordinary: So unusual or amazing that it is far beyond normal.
- fragment: A small piece that has broken off something.
- gigantic: Very much bigger than normal.
- hefty: Big, heavy and solid.
- immense: Huge in size or amount, often too big to measure easily.
More words to explore
Sitting the 11+ in Kent, Medway or Buckinghamshire?
Plain-English guides to each test, from the councils’ own pages: Kent Test · Medway Test · Bucks Secondary Transfer Test