Word Puzzle For You

[puzzlemaniac]

came across this recently, so apologies if it's well known, but I thought it would be of interest to all the puzzle fans on here.

Not part of a quiz, just for your consideration...

A 9 letter english word from which you can remove 1 letter and leave a valid 8 letter english word, and so on, all the way down to 1 letter

I suspect I'll get an answer within 2 minutes!

[factor-fiction]

Do you remove the front letter or can it be any letter that gets removed?

[puzzlemaniac]

sorry for the delay FF, it can be any letter, but without rearranging what remains, the reduced letters form a new english word

[grasscarp]

STARTLING STARTING STARING STRING STING SING SIN IN I

[scorpiojo]

Applause!!

[Calibax]

swingers
singers
singer
singe
sing
sin
in
I

[Calibax]

Oops! I started with eight letters

[scorpiojo]

More applause!!

[scorpiojo]

Applause withdrawn!

[dannyk13]

Well done Calibax but swingers has only eight letters.

[puzzlemaniac]

apologies for the delay, been involved in other things and forgot to check back. Grasscarp is correct, the word is startling