Home › Words › D › degrowdegrowdegrow means to become smaller; to shrink.EtymologyFrom de- + grow.verbTo become smaller; to shrink.e.g.“They can eat vast amounts when times are good, and can even ‘degrow’ when food is scarce, consuming their own body mass very slowly, with no ill-effects.” — 2014, Theo Tait, ‘Water-Borne Zombies’, London Review of Books, volume 36, number 5:To make (something) smaller, to reduce.e.g.“It seems likely that wealthy countries in Western Europe and North America need to degrow their economies before establishing a steady state.” — 2013, Rob Dietz, Dan O'Neill, Enough is Enough, page 184:Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).Words closest in meaningBy meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.degrowth 74% match — A negative growth (i.e. a reduction) of an economy or a population. vs degrow →debigulate 69% match — To reduce or shrink; to make or become smaller. vs degrow →decrew 69% match — To decrease, wane. vs degrow →reshrink 68% match — To shrink again. vs degrow →undergrow 68% match — To grow to an inferior, or less than the usual, size or height. vs degrow →dwindle 67% match — To decrease, shrink, diminish, reduce in size or intensity. vs degrow →degressive 66% match — Tending to decrease. vs degrow →degrowther 66% match — A proponent of the degrowth movement. vs degrow →