- 1
To dwindle is to become less and less, or smaller and smaller, slowly. Money in a jar can dwindle. A crowd can dwindle when people go home. Hope can dwindle. It does not mean something vanishes in a second; it bit by bit, often in a way you cannot easily stop. The thing dwindles by itself — we do not usually dwindle it. You will also hear dwindle away, with the same slow-fading feel. It is a slightly verb, but educated speakers still use it.
逐漸減少、慢慢變少
組成From the old verb dwine ('to waste away') + -le, an ending that can mean 'do it again and again, a little at a time'. So dwindle is 'keep wasting away'. Dutch verdwijnen ('to disappear') is a relative, not an English family word.
同家族的字
- dwinethe old English verb meaning to waste away; dwindle is that verb with a small ending added. Almost nobody says dwine now.
原始詞典資料4 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
dwindleverb/ˈdwɪn.dəl/
- 1
To decrease, shrink, diminish, reduce in size or intensity.
- Their supplies began to dwindle after a week.
- Interest in the project slowly dwindled.
- 2
To fall away in quality; degenerate, sink.
- VVearie Seu'nights, nine times nine, / Shall he dvvindle, peake, and pine: […]
- Religious Societies, though begun with excellent Intention, and by Perſons of true Piety, have dwindled into factious Clubs; […]
- 3
To lessen; to bring low.
- Our drooping days are dwindled down to nought.
- 4
To break up or disperse.
- there were only five hundred foot and three hundred horse left with him, for the blocking of Plymouth; the rest were dwindled away
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。