'Withering' definitions:
Definition of 'withering'
(from WordNet)
adjective
Wreaking or capable of wreaking complete destruction; "possessing annihilative power"; "a devastating hurricane"; "the guns opened a withering fire" [syn: annihilative, annihilating, devastating, withering]
adjective
Making light of; "afire with annihilating invective"; "a devastating portrait of human folly"; "to compliments inflated I've a withering reply"- W.S.Gilbert [syn: annihilating, devastating, withering]
noun
Any weakening or degeneration (especially through lack of use) [syn: atrophy, withering]
Definition of 'Withering'
From: GCIDE
- Withering \With"er*ing\, a. Tending to wither; causing to shrink or fade. -- {With"er*ing*ly}, adv. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Withering'
From: GCIDE
- Wither \With"er\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Withered; p. pr. & vb. n. Withering.] [OE. wideren; probably the same word as wederen to weather (see Weather, v. & n.); or cf. G. verwittern to decay, to be weather-beaten, Lith. vysti to wither.] [1913 Webster]
- 1. To fade; to lose freshness; to become sapless; to become sapless; to dry or shrivel up. [1913 Webster]
- Shall he hot pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? --Ezek. xvii. 9. [1913 Webster]
- 2. To lose or want animal moisture; to waste; to pin? away, as animal bodies. [1913 Webster]
- This is man, old, wrinkled, faded, withered. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- There was a man which had his hand withered. --Matt. xii. 10. [1913 Webster]
- Now warm in love, now with'ring in the grave. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
- 3. To lose vigor or power; to languish; to pass away. "Names that must not wither." --Byron. [1913 Webster]
- States thrive or wither as moons wax and wane. --Cowper. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'withering'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- acerb,
- acerbate,
- acerbic,
- acid,
- acidic,
- acidulent,
- acidulous,
- acrid,
- acrimonious,
- air-drying,
- anhydration,
- arrogant,
- atrophy,
- attenuation,
- baneful,
- biting,
- bitter,
- calamitous,
- cataclysmal,
- cataclysmic,
- catastrophic,
- caustic,
- clannish,
- cliquish,
- coming apart,
- consuming,
- consumption,
- consumptive,
- contemptuous,
- contumelious,
- corroding,
- corrosive,
- cracking,
- crumbling,
- cutting,
- deadly,
- decadent,
- declining,
- degenerate,
- dehumidification,
- dehydration,
- demolishing,
- demolitionary,
- depredatory,
- desiccation,
- desolating,
- destroying,
- destructive,
- deteriorating,
- devastating,
- disastrous,
- disdainful,
- disintegrating,
- doomful,
- drainage,
- draining,
- drooping,
- drying,
- drying up,
- dwindling,
- ebbing,
- effete,
- emaceration,
- emaciation,
- evaporation,
- exclusive,
- fading,
- failing,
- falling,
- fatal,
- fateful,
- flagging,
- fragmenting,
- fratricidal,
- going to pieces,
- haughty,
- incisive,
- insolation,
- internecine,
- keen,
- languishing,
- marcescence,
- marcescent,
- mordacious,
- mordant,
- mummification,
- nihilist,
- nihilistic,
- parching,
- penetrating,
- piercing,
- pining,
- preshrinkage,
- ravaging,
- regressive,
- retrograde,
- retrogressive,
- ruining,
- ruinous,
- Sanforizing,
- scathing,
- scorching,
- scornful,
- searing,
- self-destructive,
- sharp,
- shrinkage,
- shrinking,
- shriveling,
- sinking,
- sliding,
- slipping,
- slumping,
- sneering,
- sniffy,
- snobbish,
- snobby,
- snooty,
- snotty,
- stabbing,
- stinging,
- subsiding,
- subversionary,
- subversive,
- suicidal,
- supercilious,
- tabetic,
- tart,
- thinning,
- toploftical,
- toplofty,
- trenchant,
- vandalic,
- vandalish,
- vandalistic,
- waning,
- wastage,
- waste,
- wasteful,
- wasting,
- wilting,
- worsening