Standard Lemma guide

shrink-wrap

noun · verb · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A plastic film that is used to protect an item and which during application contracts so it tightly enclose it.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • Please order another five rolls of shrink-wrap from the supply house.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The wrapping around an item that has been shrink-wrapped.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • Please don't damage the shrink-wrap when you are boxing up the items for shipment.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To apply shrink-wrap to (an item).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • We spent all day shrink-wrapping boxes and now my feet hurt.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To reconstruct an extinct creature known from its fossils by depicting it with minimal soft tissue, yielding a thinner and less accurate representation of the creature.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: derogatory

Topics: biology, history, human-sciences, natural-sciences, paleontology, sciences

Examples

  • Such shrink-wrapped models gave generations of schoolchildren mental images of dinosaurs that are probably much uglier and scrawnier than the creatures were in reality.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

the clinging transparent plastic film that is used to shrinkwrap something

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: film, plastic film

History

Etymology

From shrink + wrap.

Across languages

Translations

11 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Esperanto: ŝrumpfolio — plastic film that is used to protect an item
  • German: Schrumpffolie — plastic film that is used to protect an item
  • Hungarian: zsugorfólia — plastic film that is used to protect an item
  • Hungarian: fólia — plastic film that is used to protect an item
  • Swedish: krympfilm — plastic film that is used to protect an item
  • Swedish: krympplast — plastic film that is used to protect an item
  • Catalan: retractilació — wrapping around a shrink-wrapped item
  • Esperanto: ŝrumpfolio — wrapping around a shrink-wrapped item
  • German: Schrumpffolienverpackung — wrapping around a shrink-wrapped item
  • Swedish: krympfilm — wrapping around a shrink-wrapped item
  • Swedish: krympplast — wrapping around a shrink-wrapped item