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Definition of shrink : 1. The act shrinking; shrinkage; contraction; also, recoil; withdrawal.
2. To cause to contract or shrink; as, to shrink finnel by imersing it in boiling water.
3. To draw back; to withdraw.
4. To express fear, horror, or pain by contracting the body, or part of it; to shudder; to quake.
5. To withdraw or retire, as from danger; to decline action from fear; to recoil, as in fear, horror, or distress.
6. To wrinkle, bend, or curl; to shrivel; hence, to contract into a less extent or compass; to gather together; to become compacted.

Synonyms:

press, trim down, die, dilute, tighten, subdue, crawl, deoxidize, slump, backlash, decoct, resile, funk, sign, cut, free association, ricochet, lose weight, take a hop, phase down, slenderize, sign up, head-shrinker, constrict, deoxidise, backtrack, headhunter, kick, rebound, withdraw, slim, part, couch, de-escalate, bring down, collective unconscious, analyse, repress, take, dwarf, cut back, sign on, fall away, back away, wane, crater, blench, bounce, fade, remit, shrivel up, psychiatrist, back, dip, foreshorten, analyze, scatter, let down, draw back, shrivel, consciousness, creep, trim back, spring, wax and wane, ebb, quash, contraction, retreat, pall, ego, analyst, thin out, bound, stand aside, subjugate, halve, scale down, cringe, ease, relent, fawn, pull away, narrow, undertake, kick back, backfire, come down, ratchet also rachet, start, slim down, seek, moderate, analysis, reverberate, cut down, let up, thin, shy, fall, squint, grovel, retract, aversion therapy, get, constringe, increase, scale back, approach, shrinkage, top-slice, boil down, quail, keep down, squinch, melt off, taper off

cower, blink, wince, flinch

decrease, erode, diminish, deduct, abate, drain, deplete, decrement, concentrate, compress, shorten, lower, dwindle, truncate, abridge, contract, deflate, curtail, lessen, subside, recede, compact, abbreviate, die down

falter, halt, delay, balk, hesitate, wait, pause

dissolve, exhaust, debit, misplace, drop, dissipate, dispossess, lose, divest, forfeit

squeeze, condense, wither

clip, shear, lighten, taper, weed, bob, crop, prune, shave, trim, pare, minimize, reduce, cull, downgrade, nip

avert, shirk, decline, shun, skip, abstain, avoid, escape, recoil, sidestep, elude, dodge, evade, bypass, circumvent, duck

Usage examples:

• He wondered if she would shrink from him when the truth came to her. - "What Dreams May Come", Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton.
• To those who shrink from letting their secret affairs be known even by their nearest friends, the notion of a public exhibition of troubles simply never comes, and it had certainly never come to Gyp. - "Beyond", John Galsworthy.
• Her kiss was the only one I did not shrink from and try to escape. - "Confessions of Boyhood", John Albee.