RECEDES Synonyms: 117 Similar and Opposite Words

recedes

verb

present tense third-person singular of recede

as in subsides

to grow less in scope or intensity especially gradually the sound of sirens receded as the fire engines roared off into the distance

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in withdraws

to move back or away (as from something difficult, dangerous, or disagreeable) after the rain stops, the floodwaters should gradually recede

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of recedes Waseca County Sheriff Jay Dulas said no injuries were reported, but the extent of the damage remains unclear as water slowly recedes. — Jason Rantala, CBS News, 20 Sep. 2026 Meanwhile, the narrator neither recedes nor reveals any substantial personal information. — The Week Us, TheWeek, 15 Sep. 2026 The frame tightens, and the world outside the characters recedes. — Henry Metz, Rolling Stone, 11 Sep. 2026 Desertification, a process where vegetation recedes because of high heat and low rainfall, threatens much of the Great Hungarian Plain. — ABC News, 29 Aug. 2026 Aromas grow more tannic with time as the fruit recedes into the background—except for apricot, which remains pronounced throughout. — David Thomas Tao, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026 As the water recedes from the floods, Indianapolis officials, business owners and residents have begun assessing the damage. — Jen Guadarrama, IndyStar, 20 Aug. 2026 Ford is among the few filmmakers who succeeds in filming a stage performance with visual attention (a combination of duration and framing) that sustains literary continuity yet never recedes to mere home-video-like recording. — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 19 Aug. 2026 The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife said dogfish and other small sharks commonly forage close to shore during the summer and can become trapped near sandbars as the tide recedes, according to ABC6. — Anthony Thompson, USA Today, 14 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for recedes

Verb

Chadchart said despite the heavy rain, flooding should recede once the rain subsides, as city officials are working to drain floodwaters as quickly as possible.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 26 Sep. 2026
Ideally, those refugees would remain in human care for years or even decades until the mussel invasion subsides.

— CBS News, CBS News, 8 Sep. 2026

Definition of subsides

Verb

Cookies should not be set before consent, should appear the moment consent is granted, should persist across the session and should disappear when a visitor withdraws it.

— Lesa Seibert, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2026
The background of the film is the budget slashes that are happening in this sector all over the Western world, as the government withdraws its own form of care.

— Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 5 Sep. 2026

Definition of withdraws

Verb

The impressive density of this overload, which embraces the possibilities of relatively new technology to find novel ways to deliver and compress context, diminishes as Carter is drawn to Japan by Izumi Adachi (Kiko Mizuhara).

— Vadim Rizov, Variety, 19 Sep. 2026
The governor’s effective yield to Harris diminishes the possibility of a showdown between two of California’s most powerful political figures in an election whose stakes are viewed by the Democratic Party as existential.

— Justine McDaniel, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2026

Definition of diminishes

Verb

The front retreats to the north, but chances of rain stick around into early Friday as the shortwave (small disturbance) pushes out of the area.

— Michael Autovino, CBS News, 10 Sep. 2026
Havelock neither retreats to the closet nor holds out hope for resolution via vigilante justice.

— Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026

Definition of retreats

Verb

The front finally moves through on Friday, but some heavy rain will still be possible early, before the chance of rain decreases into the weekend.

— Michael Autovino, CBS News, 29 Sep. 2026
The Nebraska researchers also found that hafnia becomes more stable as its thickness decreases.

— Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 26 Sep. 2026

Definition of decreases

Verb

Warmer temperatures associated with El Niño can mean more precipitation falls as rain rather than snow at lower elevations, while colder, higher elevations remain more likely to see accumulating snow.

— Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 29 Sep. 2026
If unit cost falls while outcomes hold or improve, there may be a case to scale.

— Alec Scott, Forbes.com, 29 Sep. 2026