Synonyms of receding

receding 1 of 3

adjective

as in retrogressing

Related Words

• retrogressing
• regressing
• stopped
• halted
• ended
• stalled
• arrested

Dissimilar Words

• proceeding
• ongoing
• operating
• happening
• functioning
• working
• afoot
• alive
• afloat
• going

receding

2 of 3

noun

as in hanging

Related Words

• hanging
• declivity
• decline
• dip
• declination
• fall
• declension
• descent
• downgrade
• hang

Dissimilar Words

• slope
• gradient
• lean
• pitch
• inclination
• grade
• diagonal
• rise
• bank
• incline
• slant
• rake
• climb
• ascent
• upgrade
• cant

receding

3 of 3

verb

present participle of recede

1

as in subsiding

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

• subsiding
• decreasing
• diminishing
• vanishing
• falling
• declining
• shrinking
• ebbing
• easing
• tapering
• waning
• dwindling
• lessening
• evaporating
• lowering
• weakening
• dying (away or down or out)
• moderating
• relenting
• dropping (off)
• draining (away)
• falling away
• ratcheting (down)
• tapering off
• palling
• abating
• remitting
• racheting (down)
• phasing down
• letting up
• collapsing
• compressing
• de-escalating
• contracting
• slackening
• constricting
• condensing
• melting (away)
• slowing (down)
• alleviating
• fading (away)
• tailing (off)
• sinking
• frittering (away)
• relaxing
• giving out
• petering (out)
• flagging
• deflating
• caving (in)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• increasing
• rising
• growing
• expanding
• swelling
• building
• intensifying
• mounting
• enlarging
• accumulating
• escalating
• soaring
• emerging
• burgeoning
• appearing
• picking up
• mushrooming
• waxing
• snowballing
• ballooning
• lengthening
• showing up
• blowing up
• elongating
• distending

2

as in retreating

to move back or away (as from something difficult, dangerous, or disagreeable)

after the rain stops, the floodwaters should gradually recede

Synonyms & Similar Words

• retreating
• withdrawing
• retiring
• fleeing
• falling back
• giving way
• pulling out
• backing away
• evacuating
• losing ground
• dropping back
• shrinking
• flying
• giving ground
• leaving
• recoiling
• detaching
• flinching
• departing
• going
• abandoning
• backing down
• disengaging
• vacating
• climbing down
• backtracking
• pulling away
• disentangling
• bowing out
• backpedaling
• quitting
• chickening (out)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• advancing
• facing
• confronting
• defying
• breasting
• daring
• braving
• brazening
• bearding
• outbraving

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of receding

Verb

Neeley said the floodwaters were receding but left mud and silt, much of which has been contaminated with sewage because of failures at waste plants. — ABC News, 25 Oct. 2026

In the Farmington area of New Mexico, local officials said that swollen rivers were receding but that many people remained evacuated and hundreds were without power. — Anna Wilder, Los Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 2026

Nighttime mouth breathing is associated with snoring, dry mouth, receding gums and sleep apnea, a disorder in which breathing stops repeatedly during sleep. — Samantha Agate, Charlotte Observer, 24 Oct. 2026

The Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky is perhaps the greatest chronicler of that era of scale, which stretched across the long twentieth century and only now shows the first signs of receding. — Bill McKibben, The New York Review of Books, 17 Oct. 2026

Oil is high, but not that high and the risk with Iran has been receding with oil prices coming down. — Stephen Messer, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2026

There is a lot of money in the market, but some of it appears to be receding and the number of commissions is coming down. — Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 7 Oct. 2026

Borasov’s patchy hair, already receding into lines of code when the movie first introduces Sutskever at the age of 17. — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 6 Oct. 2026

The dense blocks of flats receding in Shawn’s side-view mirror were bathed in warm orange light. — Rachel Heng, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2026