What is the Latin word for shrink?

The usual Latin words for “shrink” are contrahō, removeō, recēdō; also vītō, dēclīnō, fugiō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“shrink” in Latin

contrahōto draw in, bring or drag several objects together; collect, assemble, gather, amass; to bring about, accomplish, execut removeōto remove, take away recēdōto go away, withdraw, retire, depart from a place; to abandon a thing vītōto avoid, evade; to shun dēclīnōto bend, deviate, turn aside/away, deflect; to inflect, decline; to avoid fugiōto flee, fly, take flight, escape, depart, run, run away, recede; to speed, hasten, pass quickly; to avoid, shun, be ave dēfugiōto flee, escape; to shun, avoid

Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864

shrink

To contract, se contrahere: contrahi: se astringere.

To withdraw, se retrahere or removere: retro cedere: recedere: regedi. To shrink from, vitare: declinare: fugere; defugere. He exhorted them not to shrink from openly declaring, etc., hortabatur, ut sine retractatione libere dicere auderent, etc. (Cic., Tusc., 5, 29, 83).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for shrink?: The usual Latin words for “shrink” are contrahō, removeō, recēdō; also vītō, dēclīnō, fugiō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.