How to Use shovel in a Sentence

shovel

1 of 2 noun
  • Daggett said the goal is to have shovels in the ground by spring 2025.
    The Arizona Republic, 17 Feb. 2024
  • The East Bay bike path was one of those shovel-ready projects.
    Brian Amaral, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Sep. 2022
  • His time with a shovel hasn’t changed the world, or even his own life.
    E. Tammy Kim, The New Yorker, 1 Feb. 2024
  • Here's a shovel that won't let him down even when the snow piles up.
    Mark Stock, Men's Health, 3 Dec. 2022
  • The victim was found dead in his home next to a bloody shovel.
    Minyvonne Burke, NBC News, 11 Mar. 2023
  • Govier briefly left the snake to grab a shovel and a rake from the garage, per the outlet.
    Abigail Adams, Peoplemag, 21 Aug. 2023
  • Shop this rolling snow plow for $84 and this snow shovel for $36.
    Lauren Taylor, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 Dec. 2022
  • There are lots of shovel-ready projects, lots of ribbons to be cut over the next two years.
    NBC News, 8 Jan. 2023
  • The surest way to make money in AI is the same way as during any gold rush: just sell the shovels.
    Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge, 23 Mar. 2023
  • The employees used shovels and trash bins to clean up the mess, filling the store’s trash bin.
    Laura J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times, 22 Aug. 2023
  • After an hour, turn the hose off and dig a few more little test pits with a shovel.
    Kat De Naoum, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Apr. 2023
  • Be sure to pack a small sand shovel to make the task a little easier.
    Megan Boettcher, Better Homes & Gardens, 21 June 2023
  • Toss a gallon or so of your mix into the dirt, then use your shovel to mix it into the earth.
    Scott Bestul, Field & Stream, 19 July 2023
  • The tiny bucket and shovel take this idea from Ashley Byrom of Stage.
    Katie Bowlby, Country Living, 11 Nov. 2022
  • Residents should bring a shovel and be prepared to fill the bags.
    David Harris, Orlando Sentinel, 24 Sep. 2022
  • Five neighbors showed up at his front yard with shovels.
    Corina Knoll, New York Times, 15 Mar. 2023
  • The whole scene is surrounded with pickaxes, shovels, and the remains of the dead.
    Vulture, 7 Mar. 2023
  • After the last shovel of dirt, men wiped sweat and tears out of their eyes and traced another slow arc around the edge of the cemetery.
    Susan Svrluga, Washington Post, 8 July 2023
  • The shovel is to be prominent in the new school’s collection of souvenirs.
    San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Oct. 2022
  • Gates captures Wednesday by hitting her over the head with a shovel and using her blood to open the crypt.
    Abby Dupes, Seventeen, 29 Nov. 2022
  • That can be a literal pain, but the spring assist on this shovel will keep the strain to a minimum.
    Annie Gabillet, Travel + Leisure, 6 Dec. 2023
  • And if the snow is deep enough, it must be dug out by crews with shovels to allow people to access the chairs at the lift stations.
    Jane Tyska, The Mercury News, 1 Mar. 2024
  • The backhoe shuddered to a stop, and two workers from the funeral home jumped into the grave with shovels to dig out the rest of the earth by hand.
    Sarah Viren, New York Times, 5 Dec. 2023
  • Fans drive plows, shovel, use snowblowers, spread salt and, in many cases, scoop up the snow with their bare hands.
    Jalen Wright, New York Times, 20 Jan. 2024
  • Brush and trees were cleared in March at the 7044 Pearl Road site in anticipation of getting shovels in the ground.
    Beth Mlady, cleveland, 27 July 2023
  • Get out your shovels, then, Congress, and start cleaning our courts.
    Robert Hockett, Forbes, 20 Apr. 2023
  • In the decades to come, the company, now called Tripp Lite, became a pick-and-shovel business of the digital gold rush.
    Andrew Perez, ProPublica, 22 Aug. 2022
  • For around $19, an employee will bring you out to the water’s edge with a shovel to dig up a bread tin that was buried there the prior day.
    Erika Owen, Condé Nast Traveler, 19 July 2022
  • Police canvassed the area with search dogs, and at least one was seen carrying a shovel.
    John R. Ellement, BostonGlobe.com, 7 Apr. 2023
  • This shovel is built to last throughout the heaviest of winter storms.
    Kaylee Remington, cleveland, 17 Nov. 2022
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shovel

2 of 2 verb
  • I have to shovel the driveway.
  • I had to shovel for an hour to clear the driveway.
  • The snow was so deep we had to shovel a path to our front door.
  • Stop shoveling food into your mouth.
  • He is outside shoveling snow.
  • To weed, to paint, to rake the leaves To shovel all that snow.
    Pat Myers, Washington Post, 1 Dec. 2022
  • The other method is to shovel a clean path down to the ice.
    John Schandelmeier, Anchorage Daily News, 26 Dec. 2020
  • That’s a lot of mouths to feed and coats to brush and manure to shovel.
    Mary Carole McCauley, baltimoresun.com, 17 Nov. 2020
  • In the episode, the girl was seen helping in the garden, shovel in hand.
    Jessica Booth, Peoplemag, 24 Feb. 2023
  • Across the northern states, a spoon means there will be lots of snow to shovel.
    Kirby Adams, The Courier-Journal, 11 Nov. 2020
  • The deep blade allows the user to shovel and push snow.
    Kaylee Remington, cleveland, 17 Nov. 2022
  • Snow should not be shoveled or moved in any way into the streets.
    Drew Dawson, Journal Sentinel, 26 Feb. 2024
  • Sometimes hiring it out is the best way to shovel snow!
    Arricca Elin Sansone, Country Living, 10 Dec. 2020
  • Don't throw out your back while throwing out the snow - here are some tips on how to shovel snow the right way!
    John Bacon, USA TODAY, 6 Feb. 2020
  • Eight volunteers came by to help shovel out all the sand.
    Zachariah Hughes, Anchorage Daily News, 24 Sep. 2022
  • Brigades of men in one block were trying to shovel it into the gutter.
    Merrie Monteagudo, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Mar. 2023
  • In winter, the snow must be shoveled; the driveway, plowed; the sidewalks, salted.
    First National Bank Alaska, Anchorage Daily News, 22 June 2023
  • Use a potato fork or shovel to loosen soil all around the clump, working at least 1 foot away from the main stem.
    Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 July 2023
  • Then came the soil in a big pungent pile, demanding to be shoveled.
    Ronda Kaysen, New York Times, 8 May 2020
  • First, shovel away any snow that's on top of the icy surface, then sprinkle small amounts of rock salt onto the ice.
    Paul Douglas, Star Tribune, 21 Jan. 2021
  • Then, turn the compost with a pitchfork or shovel at least once a week and patiently wait for the process to be complete.
    Samantha Jones, Better Homes & Gardens, 21 June 2023
  • His wife picked up the prescription and a few days later, Carlson felt well enough to shovel snow.
    Tom Murphy, Anchorage Daily News, 21 Mar. 2022
  • Images from the scene showed crews shoveling piles of corn in an effort to finding the missing man.
    Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Fox News, 1 Dec. 2023
  • That means freeze warnings, blizzard alerts, and waking up early to shovel out the Prius.
    Mike Richard, Men's Health, 20 Oct. 2022
  • Combatants were slain, and squires, unsung, Came through with their spades to shovel horse dung.
    Neima Jahromi, The New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2022
  • High winds and strong snowfall did not stop some from trying to shovel early.
    BostonGlobe.com, 29 Jan. 2022
  • Kingfishers use their oversized bill to break up the soil and their thickened feet to shovel the dirt out the entrance.
    Laura Erickson, Popular Science, 6 Nov. 2020
  • My new favorite shoe for disc golf, work, shoveling light now.
    Men's Health, 21 Feb. 2023
  • Wentz started the second quarter trying to avoid a sack and shovel a pass to Zach Pascal.
    Akeem Glaspie, The Indianapolis Star, 25 Oct. 2021
  • Begin to shovel up the dead cicadas that have fallen into your yard.
    Felicity Warner, USA TODAY, 26 Apr. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shovel.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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