What are the proper ways to say that something gets smaller (decreases in size) in one word?
I am not asking about cases when what we discribe represents a measure of something (price, volume, weight, height). In those cases I know that it is correct to say, for example
- The price decreases
- The volume reduces
I am asking about cases when real material things get smaller.
For example,
- A baloon gets smaller (deflates)
- An apple gets smaller (when somebody eats it)
The goal is to replace 'gets smaller' with one word (verb).
Can I in these cases use words such as 'decrease', 'reduce' without adding 'in size'?
What are the most commonly used words or phrases?
quantities of measure
price measured in some currency, volume measured in decibels. In balloon and apple there is no impliedquantity of measurement
. Size is needed to specify the quantity that is changing.