Wrinkly describes something covered with small creases, folds, or lines. When you pull a shirt from the bottom of your laundry basket, it's probably wrinkly from being compressed and folded. Your fingers get wrinkly after a long bath because your skin absorbs water and puckers up.

People's skin becomes more wrinkly as they age. A baby has smooth skin, but a grandmother's hands show wrinkles from decades of use and life. These wrinkles tell a story: laugh lines around the eyes come from years of smiling, and deeper creases might mark where someone furrowed their brow in concentration.

Some things are naturally wrinkly. A Shar Pei dog has adorably wrinkly skin with folds all over its body. Raisins are wrinkly grapes, shriveled from drying in the sun. A crumpled piece of paper becomes wrinkly, with creases running in all directions.

The word can describe surfaces that should be smooth but aren't. A wrinkly bedsheet needs ironing. A wrinkly forehead might show that someone is worried or thinking hard. While we often try to smooth out wrinkles in our clothes, the wrinkles on a person's face are simply part of growing older, like rings inside a tree trunk that mark the passing years.