shuttle

verb

shuttled; shuttling ˈshə-tᵊl-iŋ 

ˈshət-liŋ

transitive verb

1

: to cause to move or travel back and forth frequently

2

: to transport in, by, or as if by a shuttle

shuttled them to school

intransitive verb

1

: to move or travel back and forth frequently

2

: to move by or as if by a shuttle

Examples of shuttle in a Sentence

We shuttled between the city and the country all summer.

A bus shuttled people from the parking lot to the dock.

Recent Examples on the Web

More than 1,000 trains pass through daily, shuttling some 600,000 passengers onto Amtrak, NJ Transit, the subway or the Long Island Railroad. —Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 28 May 2026

The chemistry of the solid Earth also had a role to play, both through supporting photosynthetic life and through reactions that can shuttle oxygen between the atmosphere and rocks deep inside the Earth. —Scott K. Johnson, ArsTechnica, 26 May 2026

And while SpaceX once held an exclusive commission from NASA to shuttle its astronauts down to the lunar surface, originally by 2024, delays in perfecting the Starship have triggered the space agency to reopen the Moon landing competition. —Kevin Holden Platt, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026

Santiago most recently worked for Aztec Airways out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, shuttling packages and vacationers on Boeing 737s and ATR aircraft. —Devoun Cetoute, Miami Herald, 25 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1550, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Phrases Containing shuttle

• shuttle diplomacy
• space shuttle

Rhymes for shuttle

• cuttle
• scuttle
• shtetl
• subtle
• suttle
• rebuttal

Kids Definition

shuttle

1 of 2 noun

shut·​tle ˈshət-ᵊl 

1

: an instrument used in weaving to carry the thread back and forth from side to side through the threads that run lengthwise

2

a

: a vehicle that goes back and forth regularly over an often short route

the airport shuttle

space shuttle

b

: an established route used by a shuttle

shuttle

2 of 2 verb

shuttled; shuttling ˈshət-liŋ 

-ᵊl-iŋ

1

: to move or travel back and forth often

2

: to transport in, by, or as if by a shuttle

shuttled the children to school