shrug off

verb

shrugged off; shrugging off; shrugs off

transitive verb

1

: to shake off

shrugging off sleep

2

: to brush aside : minimize

shrugs off the problem

3

: to remove (a garment) by wriggling out

Synonyms of shrug off

• ignore
• forgive
• overlook
• explain
• pass over
• justify

Examples of shrug off in a Sentence

an administration that was willing to shrug off the problem

she shrugged off her coat and hung it up neatly

Recent Examples on the Web

Trump’s comments were also shrugged off by EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra and Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen. —Sam Meredith, CNBC, 23 Jan. 2026

Sitting beside him, Europe’s leaders shrugged off the importance of the US to European security. —Clare Sebastian, CNN Money, 22 Jan. 2026

But don’t shrug off this gutsy film — one of the best movies of 2025. —Randy McMullen, Mercury News, 22 Jan. 2026

The chief executive of Ryanair on Wednesday dismissed Elon Musk’s idea of buying the budget airline and shrugged off insults from the billionaire, in a war of words that erupted over installing Starlink systems on aircraft. —Kelvin Chan, Los Angeles Times, 21 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1902, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for shrug off

• ashraf
• checkoff
• cutoff
• falloff
• handoff
• kickoff
• layoff
• liftoff
• markoff
• markov
• payoff
• playoff

Kids Definition

shrug off

verb

1

: to brush aside as not important

2

: to take off (a garment) by wriggling out