shriveled

Language▾

German

Persian

Russian

Spanish

shrivel

An object or person that's shrunken and lost their shape is shriveled. This can happen to fruits and vegetables when they're not ripe yet.

When we talk about something being shriveled, it usually means that it was once full of life and juice, but now it's dry and wrinkly. Imagine a raisin - what used to be a plump grape has turned into a small, hard thing. This happens naturally with food when it gets old or doesn't get enough water. If you're looking at an apple that's shriveled up on the counter, you know it didn't ripen properly.

How common is "shriveled"?

Word shriveled is considered rare in modern English.
It appears most frequently in fiction texts and less often in other writings.

Definitions

verb

To collapse inward; to crumble.
Example: The plant shrivelled from lack of water.
To become wrinkled.
Example: His fingers were shriveled from being in the bath for too long.
To draw into wrinkles.
Example: The hot sun shrivelled the leaves.

1 / 3

adjective

Wrinkled because the volume has reduced while the surface area of the outer layer has remained constant.
Example: A prune is a shriveled plum.
Collapsed in size.

1 / 2

Real examples of "shriveled" in context

Gordon Ramsay Savagely Critiques Spicy Wings | Hot Ones

Interview

shriveled and dry. Each shell contains what looks like the retracted scrotum of a hairless cat.

15:47