withered

/ˈwɪðərd/

/ˈwɪðəd/

If someone or something is shriveled or shrunken with age, it is withered. If your skin is looking a little withered from being out in the sun all the time, it's time for a really good moisturizer.

The adjective withered is also used to describe vegetation that has dried up or shriveled from loss of moisture. If you've ever seen a raisin, you can picture exactly what happens when a grape becomes withered — it becomes shrunken and wrinkled. Withered is from the word wither, which etymologists suggest is a variant of weather from the same Old English word weder.

Definitions of withered

1. adjective

   lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness
   “"a lanky scarecrow of a man with withered face and lantern jaws"-W.F.Starkie”

   “he did well despite his withered arm”

   synonyms: shriveled, shrivelled, shrunken, wizen, wizened

   lean, thin

   lacking excess flesh
2. adjective

   (used especially of vegetation) having lost all moisture
   “withered vines”

   synonyms: dried-up, sear, sere, shriveled, shrivelled

   dry

   free from liquid or moisture; lacking natural or normal moisture or depleted of water; or no longer wet