shrivel

Only a few short weeks after we carried the luscious green plant into our new home, its protruding branches and leaves started to shrivel.

"I thought I was going to shrivel away to nothing," Balsamico told Grist.

His wife, Stephanie Allen, who cares for him, said it is hard to watch her husband, the commercial helicopter pilot, the veteran Hollywood crew member, shrivel in front of the TV.

Keir Starmer, by contrast, was cushioned, it appears, by a substantial poll lead and keen to ensure it didn't shrivel.

And if the truth-tellers tell their truths less provocatively, consistently, and doggedly than the disinformers tell their lies, any shared notion of reality will shrivel.