as in shriveled
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1
as in dried
to lose liveliness, force, or freshness
shortly after the moon landing, interest in the space program withered the old man seemed to wither suddenly upon turning 80
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in faded
to lose bodily strength or vigor
if he's left on his own, he'll just wither and die
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of withered
Theo Belci,
Artforum,
2 June 2026
Some oak trees retain their brown, withered leaves over winter, which paints a pretty picture when seen against a backdrop of white snow.
—
Luke Miller,
Better Homes & Gardens,
11 May 2026
The process leaves behind withered petals and a liquid that cools into a thick wax.
—
Cecilia Vega,
CBS News,
3 May 2026
Either shear the whole plant by a third or selectively cut withered flowers and leggy stems.
—
Teresa Woodard,
Midwest Living,
14 Apr. 2026
Heaps of last summer’s grassy sedge lay withered around us.
—
Quanta Magazine,
6 Apr. 2026
Soft winds threaten to blow the withered flowers away.
—
Celina Tebor,
CNN Money,
19 Mar. 2026
Dead fruit rotted on withered evergreens, remnants of a record-cold February.
—
Literary Hub,
23 Feb. 2026
Floridians can see it in the withered tones of roadside vegetation and hear it in the dry crunch of their once-green lawns.
—
Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board,
The Orlando Sentinel,
22 Feb. 2026
Michael Luo,
New Yorker,
14 June 2026
As a skin care ingredient, hyaluronic acid floods withered, thirsty skin with moisture, thereby smoothing the appearance of fine lines.
—
Sophie Wirt,
InStyle,
10 June 2026
Drought has also spread across the nation’s breadbasket, where staple wheat crops that are typically used to make all-purpose flour or pasta have withered for lack of rain.
—
Bloomberg,
Oc Register,
27 May 2026
In recent years, however, the vaccine program withered amid cuts in health spending, the Covid pandemic and a botched restructuring of the national medical system.
—
Mary Beth Sheridan,
CNN Money,
17 May 2026
The ask withered under criticism from legislative leaders in both parties.
—
Frederick Melo,
Twin Cities,
14 May 2026
Decades of relations built through OPEC and other organizations withered under fire, while Western and Israeli ties deepened through the Abraham Accords and shared security threats from Iran.
—
Judah Taub,
semafor.com,
30 Apr. 2026
Its power has withered amid years without peace negotiations and Israel tightening its grip on the occupied West Bank.
—
Sam Metz,
Arkansas Online,
26 Apr. 2026
The Palestinian Authority, however, has not held a presidential election in 21 years, and support for it and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has withered during years of corruption and frustration over the sometimes violent advances of Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
—
ABC News,
26 Apr. 2026
Adjective
These misshapen and withered figurines—a teddy bear with a candle and a turkey in pointed shoes—looked over at the photos from low plinths in one corner of the gallery.
—
Theo Belci,
Artforum,
2 June 2026
Some oak trees retain their brown, withered leaves over winter, which paints a pretty picture when seen against a backdrop of white snow.
—
Luke Miller,
Better Homes & Gardens,
11 May 2026
The process leaves behind withered petals and a liquid that cools into a thick wax.
—
Cecilia Vega,
CBS News,
3 May 2026
Either shear the whole plant by a third or selectively cut withered flowers and leggy stems.
—
Teresa Woodard,
Midwest Living,
14 Apr. 2026
Heaps of last summer’s grassy sedge lay withered around us.
—
Quanta Magazine,
6 Apr. 2026
Soft winds threaten to blow the withered flowers away.
—
Celina Tebor,
CNN Money,
19 Mar. 2026
Dead fruit rotted on withered evergreens, remnants of a record-cold February.
—
Literary Hub,
23 Feb. 2026
Floridians can see it in the withered tones of roadside vegetation and hear it in the dry crunch of their once-green lawns.
—
Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board,
The Orlando Sentinel,
22 Feb. 2026
Verb
White evangelical churches—revivalists, under Sutton’s classification system—experienced remarkable growth, while liberal mainline Protestant churches withered.
—
Michael Luo,
New Yorker,
14 June 2026
As a skin care ingredient, hyaluronic acid floods withered, thirsty skin with moisture, thereby smoothing the appearance of fine lines.
—
Sophie Wirt,
InStyle,
10 June 2026
Drought has also spread across the nation’s breadbasket, where staple wheat crops that are typically used to make all-purpose flour or pasta have withered for lack of rain.
—
Bloomberg,
Oc Register,
27 May 2026
In recent years, however, the vaccine program withered amid cuts in health spending, the Covid pandemic and a botched restructuring of the national medical system.
—
Mary Beth Sheridan,
CNN Money,
17 May 2026
The ask withered under criticism from legislative leaders in both parties.
—
Frederick Melo,
Twin Cities,
14 May 2026
Decades of relations built through OPEC and other organizations withered under fire, while Western and Israeli ties deepened through the Abraham Accords and shared security threats from Iran.
—
Judah Taub,
semafor.com,
30 Apr. 2026
Its power has withered amid years without peace negotiations and Israel tightening its grip on the occupied West Bank.
—
Sam Metz,
Arkansas Online,
26 Apr. 2026
The Palestinian Authority, however, has not held a presidential election in 21 years, and support for it and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has withered during years of corruption and frustration over the sometimes violent advances of Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
—
ABC News,
26 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for withered
Adjective
-
Avoid fruits with too many brown spots or overly dry, shriveled skin.
-
Signs of a ripe watermelon include a yellow ground spot, dull color, and a brown, shriveled stem.
Verb
-
The creamy dressing is made with Greek yogurt, lots of fresh and dried dill, and lemon juice, and the plate gets plenty of color from radishes, cherry tomatoes, and avocado.
-
Most can’t be dried in the dryer, but drying them on a hanger or using clothespins can cause the fabric to stretch out in all the wrong places.
Verb
-
By the time the Giants jumped to a 2-0 lead in Tuesday’s second inning over West Sacramento’s A’s, the protestors had faded from the plaza.
-
Election betting was common until the 1940s, then mysteriously faded away.
Adjective
-
His wizened next-door neighbors (Mary Woodvine and Adrian Rawlins) are younger, mistaking him for their son Luke, a former crew member of the Rose of Nevada who died by suicide.
-
Nobody has ever wanted to watch the singer from Foreigner play baseball against Wally Joyner and a wizened Bobby Brady, and yet MTV leaned on the less-than-spectacular spectacle throughout the ‘90s.
Verb
-
The decision weakened the federal Voting Rights Act’s protections against racially discriminatory redistricting.
-
Brexit’s tortuous complexity weakened governance and led to parliamentary deadlock.
Adjective
-
The church’s punishment, however, delivered in front of the congregants, is an eerie ritual performed by a gaunt, severe visitor (Nicholas Hope).
-
Brig is in the Upper Valais, a gaunt and conservative place where the inhabitants speak Walliser German, an Alpine dialect that many Swiss people find unintelligible.
Verb
-
From there, however, his scoring pace sagged somewhat down the stretch of Frölunda’s season.
-
Weiss had initially sought to reinvent the CBS Evening News, dropping a two-anchor format that had sagged in the ratings.
Adjective
-
But over the past two decades, new research has emerged that is changing how scientists and physicians think about skeletal health.
-
Because kids aren’t fully grown yet, their skeletal systems require surgeries tailored to each child’s specific growth and developmental stages, meaning a 15-year-old won’t receive the same kind of knee reconstruction surgery as a 60-year-old — or even as a 12-year-old.
Cite this Entry
“Withered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/withered. Accessed 26 Jun. 2026.
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