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wither
in a sentence
grouped by contextual meaning

wither as in: wither on the vine

Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    Without water, the plants in the garden began to wither and die.
    wither = shrivel (wrinkled as they dried out)
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    His lips were cracked and felt as if they were bleeding and if he did not drink some water soon he felt that he would wither up and die.  (source)
    wither = dry out
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    Only the crest of the Giant's face was still visible, and it was white bone, like limestone protruding from a discouraged, withering mountain.  (source)
    withering = shriveling (deteriorating)
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Show 10 more with 7 word variations
  • •
    Because Morrie sat in the wheelchair, the camera never caught his withered legs.  (source)
    withered = shriveled (shrunken and weakened)
  • •
    He could see Meo's garden patch, weedy but still with the mark of Meo's hand upon it, withering in the searing heat.  (source)
    withering = drying out
  • •
    If Beatty so much as breathed on them, Montag felt that his hands might wither, turn over on their sides, and never be shocked to life again; they would be buried the rest of his life in his coat sleeves, forgotten.  (source)
    wither = weaken, and get smaller
  • •
    VALENTINE Could I but reach thy wither'd frame, Thou wretched beldame, void of shame!†  (source)
    wither'd = shriveled (wrinkled)
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    In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.†  (source)
    withereth = shrivels
    standard suffix: Today, the suffix "-eth" is replaced by "-s", so that where they said "She withereth" in older English, today we say "She withers."
  • •
    Malfoy glanced witheringly at Percy.†  (source)
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    Faces still fresh and unwithered (for senility galloped so hard that it had no time to age the cheeks—only the heart and brain) turned as they passed.†  (source)
    unwithered = not shriveled (wrinkled)
    standard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unwithered means not and reverses the meaning of withered. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
  • •
    The withered mummy shuffled forward in her rainbow dress.  (source)
    withered = dried out
  • •
    It is a flame spirit in you ever gathering more of itself, While you, heedless of its expansion, bewail the withering of your days.  (source)
    withering = shrinking
  • •
    It floated on the grass instead of walking, and the grass seemed to wither beneath it.  (source)
    wither = dry out
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wither as in: her confidence withered

Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    As the disease progressed, her once strong muscles began to wither and she struggled to even lift a glass of water.
    wither = weaken
  • •
    Now, away from that ocean, in the confines of a hospital bed, his body began to wither like a beached fish.  (source)
  • •
    My fury was gone, I felt it gone, dried up at the source, withered and lifeless.  (source)
    withered = weakened
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Show 10 more with 5 word variations
  • •
    Your body will wither and die, and still the Oracle's spirit will be locked inside you.  (source)
    wither = weaken
  • •
    He then dropped on me a withering two-syllable "duh."  (source)
    withering = weakening the spirit, or humiliating
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    But months after my 18th birthday, the recession hit, gas prices shot up, my savings withered and the reality of going nowhere fast hit me in the face.  (source)
    withered = shrank
  • •
    One withers, another grows.  (source)
    withers = becomes weaker
  • •
    May the Shire live for ever unwithered!  (source)
    unwithered = not weakened
    standard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unwithered means not and reverses the meaning of withered. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
  • •
    And yet, each would wither in my arms the very night of their birth.  (source)
    wither = weaken
  • •
    It was absolute misery to come back into the withering coldness.  (source)
    withering = causing weakness
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    On the threshold sat an old man, aged beyond guess of years; tall and kingly he had been, but now he was withered as an old stone.  (source)
    withered = weakened
  • •
    All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost.  (source)
    wither = weaken
  • •
    Bonaparte's condescending attitude was outrageous, but before Frederic could utter the withering retort that was just on the tip of his tongue, La Fayette laughed aloud.  (source)
    withering = intended to humiliate (weaken the spirit)
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rare meaning

Show 3 with this contextual meaning
  • •
    "A lot of nonsense," Mr. Patch-Withers grumbled.  (source)
    Withers = proper noun
  • •
    Send in Corporal Withers and four soldiers, at once.  (source)
  • •
    And I know where Mirkwood is, and the Withered Heath where the great dragons bred.  (source)
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Show 10 more
  • •
    The stroke of the brush from croup to withers helped him think.†  (source)
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    The Son mutters, "May you never bear fruit again," and instantly the fig tree withers.†  (source)
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    He lived way up on Adam Clayton Powell, a few blocks from the last stop on the 3 line, but there was a bar called Brother J's where we sometimes met on 110th: a workingman's dive with Bill Withers on the jukebox and a sticky floor, career alcoholics slumped over their third bourbon at two p.m. But Jerome did not sell pharmaceuticals in increments of less than a thousand dollars and though I knew he would be perfectly glad to let me have a few bags of smack it seemed like a lot less trouble if I just went ahead and took a cab straight down to the Brooklyn Bridge.†  (source)
  • •
    Most Labs are about two feet tall in the withers, or top of the shoulders, and the typical male weighs sixty-five to eighty pounds, though some can weigh considerably more.†  (source)
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    But Bol rode away from them, his old gun resting across the horse's withers.†  (source)
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    As they rode they cut strips of the smoked and half dried deermeat and chewed on it and their hands were black and greasy and they wiped them on the withers of the horses and passed the canteen of water back and forth between them and admired the country.†  (source)
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    It smells like...Springtime, she thought, before the heat comes and crushes the leaves into pulp and withers the petals off the flowers.†  (source)
  • •
    My heart withers like the dying flower.†  (source)
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    So I said, "I like Jane Withers."†  (source)
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    My curiosity for the spy mission withers.†  (source)
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