degrow

English

Etymology

From de- +‎ grow.

Verb

degrow (third-person singular simple present degrows, present participle degrowing, simple past degrew, past participle degrown)

1. (intransitive) To become smaller; to shrink.
   • 2014, Theo Tait, ‘Water-Borne Zombies’, London Review of Books, volume 36, number 5:

     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.

   • 2015, Sanjay Kulkarni, The Value Elephant:

     Essentially, this meant that the markets were expecting the company to degrow and its economic performance to deteriorate.

2. (transitive) To make (something) smaller, to reduce.
   • 2013, Rob Dietz, Dan O'Neill, Enough is Enough, page 184:

     It seems likely that wealthy countries in Western Europe and North America need to degrow their economies before establishing a steady state.

Anagrams

• edgrow, growed