How to Use shrug in a Sentence

shrug

1 of 2 verb

• I asked if he wanted to go out to dinner, and he just shrugged.
• He just shrugged his shoulders.
• Oil surged, gold rose — and stocks shrugged.
  — John Towfighi, CNN Money, 3 Mar. 2026
• My boyfriend heard it too but shrugged it off.
  — R. Eric Thomas, Denver Post, 14 Mar. 2026
• Dalt says, to which Homer shrugs and nods.
  — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 12 Apr. 2026
• Plyler shrugged at such a question.
  — Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 4 Feb. 2026
• Griffler shrugged and took a bite of a bagel.
  — Burkhard Bilger, New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2026
• Schiliro looked around for help, but his colleagues just shrugged.
  — Literary Hub, 23 Mar. 2026
• Still, this doesn't mean that people should shrug and give up.
  — Cathleen O'Grady, Ars Technica, 28 May 2020
• Many just shrug their shoulders, and say, so what, who cares?
  — Steve H. Hanke, Fortune, 14 May 2026
• Lusti, her hair frozen to the sides of her face, lays out the stakes and then shrugs.
  — Frederick Dreier, Outside, 12 Dec. 2025
• Reigns shrugged his shoulders and gave Fatu the green light.
  — Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 16 June 2026
• And yet, investors are shrugging it all off.
  — Maria Aspan, NPR, 14 Aug. 2025
• But at least a few others shrugged it off as a smart business move.
  — Victor Mather, New York Times, 22 Nov. 2023
• The camera then panned to the actress, who smirked and shrugged.
  — Jolene Latimer, Peoplemag, 20 Apr. 2023
• The shop can no longer shrug and say the algorithm is colour-blind.
  — Dara-Abasi Ita, Forbes.com, 10 June 2026
• Warwick shrugged and pecked at his laptop.
  — Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 21 Jan. 2026
• A lot of teams start 2-0 and don’t even shrug their shoulders.
  — Tyler Palmateer, Nashville Tennessean, 30 Aug. 2025
• When the doctor shrugs a little.
  — Literary Hub, 29 Apr. 2026
• Safety Jay Ward glances over and shrugs.
  — Alec Lewis, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
• And Jenny turned to me, smiled and shrugged, as if to say, case closed.
  — Robert Kolker, New York Times, 20 July 2023
• The camera pans to Spielberg who just shrugs it off.
  — Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 15 Mar. 2026
• Travis shrugs it off, saying that everyone has a role to play.
  — Radhika Menon, ELLE, 30 Mar. 2023
• Don’t shrug it off, saying this is for others to worry about.
  — Ken Silverstein, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2024
• Bob Harper, former host of the show, shrugged.
  — Virgie Tovar, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2025
• Those who don’t like the Olympics, shrug it off as unimportant.
  — Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 June 2021
• Almost no one shrugs if off as a nonissue.
  — Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 14 Feb. 2026
• Putin pantomimed not being able to hear the question and shrugged.
  — Susan B. Glasser, New Yorker, 15 Aug. 2025
• Most people, if asked what their belly button is for, would shrug.
  — Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 11 June 2026
• Roark’s mostly shrugged this all off, a couple of weeks later.
  — Luca Evans, Denver Post, 15 Jan. 2026

shrug

2 of 2 noun

• Kate topped the look off with a fuzzy white shrug.
  — Nicole Briese, PEOPLE, 29 Apr. 2026
• For all the buildup, this may be less a showdown than a shrug-off.
  — Ana Gutierrez, Austin American Statesman, 4 Feb. 2026
• Matthew doesn’t speak but can grimace, shrug, grunt, nod, or frown.
  — Weike Wang, The New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2022
• The wives would sort of shrug or nod, and the men would take off their jackets.
  — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 4 Dec. 2023
• The shrug and hand gesture at the end became his thing.
  — Kimberly Wilson, Essence, 29 Jan. 2026
• Slights that might once have upset him now elicit no more than a shrug.
  — Time, 7 Dec. 2022
• Ike demonstrates with the most cringey of shoulder shrugs.
  — Amanda Champagne-Meadows, Deadline, 26 Apr. 2026
• Rather than default to a gift card with a shrug, grab something off this list.
  — Anthony Karcz, Forbes, 12 Dec. 2021
• Cars get blown up, flipped over, and thrown down stairs, and people emerge from them with a shrug.
  — Kyle Smith, National Review, 7 July 2021
• But, like the team records on both sides that kept falling, the win comes with a bit of a shrug.
  — Dan Gelston, orlandosentinel.com, 9 Jan. 2022
• As young fans gripped their face in agony, the older faces held their palms up in knowing shrugs.
  — Beren Cross, New York Times, 6 Apr. 2026
• Why did Apple's blowout earnings get a shrug?
  — Alexei Oreskovic, Fortune, 30 Jan. 2026
• But that is little reason to shrug and say that five untested days is enough.
  — Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 8 Jan. 2022
• And too often, the honest answer is a shrug.
  — Douglas Gregory, Forbes.com, 22 May 2026
• And perhaps a shrug – or two, or three – will be in order from Smith.
  — oregonlive, 26 Aug. 2023
• The sign-and-trade deal with the Bulls was greeted with either a shrug or a smirk.
  — Paul Sullivan, chicagotribune.com, 2 Apr. 2022
• So much so that all attempts to reboot it have been met with shoulder shrugs – bar one show.
  — Sergio Pereira, Space.com, 10 June 2026
• But my friends and cousins, like so many Latino Dodgers fans, shrug about all that.
  — Los Angeles Times, 23 Sep. 2021
• The response by the rest of the team was pretty much a collective shrug.
  — Jeff Fedotin, Forbes, 3 June 2021
• With a slight shrug of his shoulders and a knowing nod of having done this before.
  — Patrick Z. McGavin, Chicago Tribune, 30 Nov. 2022
• With a kind of funny shrug, Bona walks on stage with his bass guitar strapped across his body.
  — Literary Hub, 9 Mar. 2026
• And while that might seem like no big deal, that shrug is a fairly recent victory.
  — Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 24 May 2022
• For YouTube, the loss could be written off with a shoulder shrug.
  — Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 3 Oct. 2025
• And there is something about this shrug that feels oddly true to La Fontaine.
  — Jan Steyn, The Dial, 10 Mar. 2026
• Sanders asked with a shrug, indicating the boxes of books around him.
  — Palak Jayswal, The Salt Lake Tribune, 22 Sep. 2022
• Her second look featured a strapless satin gown with a matching shrug.
  — Christina Perrier, InStyle, 12 Mar. 2026
• These images could portray a shrug, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, or a rose, @>—>—, in a single line.
  — Sheera Frenkel, New York Times, 14 Feb. 2023
• That shrug is exactly the problem.
  — Aron Solomon september 3, Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2025
• The mice greet this with a shrug, mouth vague platitudes, and go on the talk-show circuit anyway.
  — Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2023
• There are tube tops with her classic open seams, a curve-hugging sheer maxi dress, and a saucy midriff-baring shrug.
  — Liana Satenstein, Vogue, 30 July 2021