Dwindling

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  dwindling \dwindling\ adj.
     gradually decreasing until little remains.
  
     Syn: tapering, tapering off.
          [WordNet 1.5]



From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  dwindling \dwindling\ n.
     the act or process of becoming gradually less until little
     remains; as, there is no greater sadness that the dwindling
     away of a family.
  
     Syn: dwindling away.
          [WordNet 1.5]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Dwindle \Dwin"dle\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Dwindled}; p. pr. & vb.
     n. {Dwindling}.] [From OE. dwinen to languish, waste away,
     AS. dw[imac]nan; akin to LG. dwinen, D. dwijnen to vanish,
     Icel. dv[imac]na to cease, dwindle, Sw. tvina; of uncertain
     origin. The suffix -le, preceded by d excrescent after n, is
     added to the root with a diminutive force.]
     To diminish; to become less; to shrink; to waste or consume
     away; to become degenerate; to fall away.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Weary sennights nine times nine
           Shall he dwindle, peak and pine.         --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Religious societies, though begun with excellent
           intentions,
           are said to have dwindled into factious clubs. --Swift.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  dwindling
       adj : gradually decreasing until little remains [syn: {tapering},
             {tapering off}]
       n : a becoming gradually less; "there is no greater sadness that
           the dwindling away of a family" [syn: {dwindling away}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  111 Moby Thesaurus words for "dwindling":
     at rest, calm, catabasis, cloistered, collapse, coming apart,
     contractive, cool, cracking, crash, crumbling, decadent,
     deceleration, declension, decline, decline and fall, declining,
     decreasing, decrescendo, decrescent, degenerate, deliquescent,
     deteriorating, diminishing, diminuendo, disintegrating, dive,
     downtrend, downturn, draining, drooping, drop, dying, ebb, ebbing,
     effete, even-tenored, fading, failing, fall, falling, flagging,
     fragmenting, going to pieces, halcyon, hushed, impassive, isolated,
     languishing, lapse, lessening, marcescent, moldering, on the wane,
     pacific, peaceable, peaceful, pining, placid, plunge, quiescent,
     quiet, receding, reductive, regressive, remission, reposeful,
     reposing, restful, resting, retiring, retreat, retreating,
     retrograde, retrogressive, secluded, sequestered, sequestrated,
     sheltered, shrinking, shriveling, sinking, sliding, slipping,
     slowdown, slump, slumping, smooth, still, still as death, stillish,
     stilly, stoic, stolid, subsidence, subsiding, tabetic, tranquil,
     unagitated, undisturbed, unmoved, unperturbed, unruffled,
     unstirring, untroubled, wane, waning, wasting, wilting, withering,
     worsening