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Shrink vs Shrunk - What's the difference?

shrink | shrunk |

As verbs the difference between shrink and shrunk

is that shrink is to cause to become smaller while shrunk is past tense of shrink.

As a noun shrink

is shrinkage; contraction; recoil.

shrink

English

Verb

  • To cause to become smaller.
    • The dryer shrank my sweater.
  • To become smaller; to contract.
    • This garment will shrink when wet.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • I have not found that water, by mixture of ashes, will shrink or draw into less room.
  • * Dryden
    • And shrink like parchment in consuming fire.
  • To cower or flinch.
    • Molly shrank away from the blows of the whip.
  • To draw back; to withdraw.
  • * Milton
    • The Libya Hammon shrinks his horn.
  • (figuratively) To withdraw or retire, as from danger.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • What happier natures shrink at with affright, / The hard inhabitant contends is right.
  • * Jowett (Thucyd.)
    • They assisted us against the Thebans when you shrank from the task.

    Synonyms

    * (avoid an unwanted task) funk, shirk

    Antonyms

    * (to cause to become smaller) expand, grow, enlarge, stretch * (become smaller) expand, grow, enlarge, stretch

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • shrinkage; contraction; recoil
    • Yet almost wish, with sudden shrink , / That I had less to praise. — Leigh Hunt.
  • (slang, sometimes, pejorative) A psychiatrist or therapist; a head-shrinker.
    • You need to see a shrink .
    My shrink said that he was an enabler, bad for me.
  • * 1994 , (Green Day),
    • I went to a shrink , to analyze my dreams. He said it's lack of sex that's bringing my down.''

    Usage notes

    * The slang sense was originally pejorative, expressing a distrust of practitioners in the field. It is now not as belittling or trivializing.

    Synonyms

    * head-shrinker

    shrunk

    English

    Verb

    (head)
  • (shrink)

    • Usage notes

    In casual use, found even in careful speech, interchangeable with shrank; in careful formal use, only used for past participle "I have'' shrunk ", while ''shrank is used for the past tense "I shrank". Compare sank/sunk. The inconsistent usage is due to the fact that shrink is a (Germanic strong verb), hence conjugated via ablaut (change of vowel rather than adding ), but these are irregular in modern English. The past tense "shrunk" is derived from the Old English plural past "scruncon". The same form is found in other past tenses, such as "slunk". The 1989 movie '' (formally: ''Honey, I Shrank the Kids'' or ''Honey, I've Shrunk the Kids ) is an example of the prevalence of the casual form. Note that in the 1844 translation of the , the form "shrank" is used in IV Maccabees 14:4] ("None of the seven youths turned cowardly, or shrank back from death", singular subject), whereas "shrunk" is used in [http://ebible.org/eng-Brenton/1MA03.htm I Maccabees 3:6 ("Wherefore the wicked shrunk for fear of him, and all the workers of iniquity were troubled, because salvation prospered in his hand", plural subject). The preferred form when used adjectivally is "shrunken".

    Usage notes

    * " shrunk/shrank", Paul Brians * " ON LANGUAGE; How 'Shrunk' Snuck In", by (William Safire), July 16, 1995, New York Times