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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Recent Examples of withered
Meghan O’Gieblyn,
Harpers Magazine,
30 June 2026
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
Joaquin Sapien,
ProPublica,
30 June 2026
After all, there’s a reason these rugs haven’t withered away.
—
Michelle Mastro,
The Spruce,
29 June 2026
Each side drew a yellow card, and four players withered on the ground in the 83rd minute after an Australian push into the box led to Bos’ slow-rolling shot that was saved.
—
Cam Inman,
Mercury News,
26 June 2026
The legislation was first introduced in 2023 but withered in the House.
—
Theresa Gaffney,
STAT,
25 June 2026
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
Adjective
The savory along the river is teeming with bees, and small white moths light among the ghosts of withered bergamot.
—
Meghan O’Gieblyn,
Harpers Magazine,
30 June 2026
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
Verb
Syracuse’s downtown, already severed by the interstate highway, withered.
—
Joaquin Sapien,
ProPublica,
30 June 2026
After all, there’s a reason these rugs haven’t withered away.
—
Michelle Mastro,
The Spruce,
29 June 2026
Each side drew a yellow card, and four players withered on the ground in the 83rd minute after an Australian push into the box led to Bos’ slow-rolling shot that was saved.
—
Cam Inman,
Mercury News,
26 June 2026
The legislation was first introduced in 2023 but withered in the House.
—
Theresa Gaffney,
STAT,
25 June 2026
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for withered
Adjective
-
Pests Yellowing or shriveled leaves and stunted growth can also be signs of pests.
-
Avoid fruits with too many brown spots or overly dry, shriveled skin.
Verb
-
The remaining cathode material is dried and ground into a fine black powder.
-
The fins were dried, collected and later analyzed by researchers.
Verb
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As impact heating faded, the upper mantle cooled, and the once-thin basaltic crust thickened.
-
On Saturday night, the visibility faded to a point where the old-school scoreboard above the center-field bleachers could not be seen from the press box high atop the Friendly Confines.
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
-
Yet finance, policy certainty and infrastructure weakened for the first time in more than a decade.
-
Internal fractures, economic decline and public frustration have weakened the movement and opened a new chapter of uncertainty.
Adjective
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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
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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
-
There are existing methods for cleaning skeletal remains, such as burial, digestive enzymes, or chemical treatments.
-
An experiment on mice conducted by a team of researchers from Texas A&M University has revealed a healing sequence in mammalian physiology that rebuilds lost skeletal structure, albeit with less than perfect results.
Cite this Entry
“Withered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/withered. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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