wither

CEFRB2

/ˈwɪðə/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To become dry, weak, and lifeless.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To cause to shrivel or dry up.

Examples

  • If you don't water the plants, they will wither.

  • Oh luck! Like the moon, you steadily change, you always grow and then wither again.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5

Also pronounced

  • [ˈwɪðɚ] ~ [ˈwɪðɹ̩]

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To lose vigour or power; to languish; to waste away; to pass away.

  2. To shrivel, droop or dry up, especially from lack of water.

  3. To become helpless due to emotion.

More examples

In context

  • She watched as the old tree slowly withered with time.

  • The flowers began to wither in the hot sun without enough water.

  • Without care, the crops will wither and fail to grow.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Without enough water, the flowers will blank and die under the hot sun.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English widren, wydderen (“to dry up, shrivel”), related to or perhaps an alteration of Middle English wederen (“to expose to weather”), from Old English wederian (“to expose to weather, exhibit a change of weather”). Cognates From Proto-Germanic: Dutch verwederen, Dutch verweren (“to erode by weather”), German verwittern, wittern (“to be ruined by weather; to erode”), Swedish vittra (“wither”). More at weather.