1
as in to avoid
to get or keep away from (as a responsibility) through cleverness or trickery
you always try to shirk paying your fair share of the bill by claiming you "forgot" your wallet
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to neglect
to leave undone or unattended to especially through carelessness
a deadbeat who has been shirking his duty to his family for years
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in to lurk
to move about in a sly or secret manner
given the multitude of auditoriums at the multiplex, it's not too difficult for underaged kids to shirk into R-rated movies
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of shirk
On Thursday — on Opening Day! — the state auditor’s office is scheduled to release a report that could say whether the team has shirked its maintenance responsibilities at Angel Stadium.
—
Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 25 Mar. 2025
Both regulators and Attorney General William Tong have accused the company of shirking its responsibility to clean up the property, hampering redevelopment opportunities.
—John Moritz, Hartford Courant, 16 Mar. 2025
After living through that hell, the young Sammie shirks his father's wishes and becomes a blues player of great renown.
—Nick Romano, EW.com, 18 Apr. 2025
Though redeveloping Villa Park’s North Stand was shelved in late 2023, Villa have not shirked infrastructure investment under Sawiris and Edens.
—Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shirk
Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 25 Mar. 2025
Both regulators and Attorney General William Tong have accused the company of shirking its responsibility to clean up the property, hampering redevelopment opportunities.
—John Moritz, Hartford Courant, 16 Mar. 2025
After living through that hell, the young Sammie shirks his father's wishes and becomes a blues player of great renown.
—Nick Romano, EW.com, 18 Apr. 2025
Though redeveloping Villa Park’s North Stand was shelved in late 2023, Villa have not shirked infrastructure investment under Sawiris and Edens.
—Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shirk
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shirk
Verb
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The movie also acknowledges that there is a climate crisis, but tries to avoid having viewers frozen with fear.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
18 June 2025
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But Augustin pleaded guilty to second-degree assault as a hate crime, avoiding even more prison time if he had been convicted by a Queens jury on the manslaughter charge.—
Sheetal Banchariya,
New York Daily News,
18 June 2025
Verb
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Precisely understanding the audience that is in a store is becoming essential, but something retailers often neglect.—
Kevin Rozario,
Forbes.com,
20 June 2025
-
It has been neglected, with much deferred maintenance.—
Kirk Kenney,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
18 June 2025
Verb
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But in the background still lurk the conditions and trends that has spurred allocators away from the USD.—
Diane Brady,
Fortune,
18 June 2025
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Also lurking just behind the leader is Norwegian golfer Viktor Hovland at one under par.—
Ben Verbrugge,
MSNBC Newsweek,
15 June 2025
Verb
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If your privacy practices have been less than perfect in the past—and whose have not, given the vanishingly tiny odds of evading every form of digital data collection—additional information about you from over the years is likely available from hundreds of data brokers.—
Andy Greenberg,
Wired News,
16 June 2025
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Hundreds of Iranian missiles rained down across Israel beginning Saturday night, some of them evading the country's sophisticated defense systems.—
Rebecca Rosman,
NPR,
15 June 2025
Verb
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Creating Emotionally Safer Experiences AI is quietly reshaping CX by learning when not to personalize, strategically forgetting past interactions to avoid user fatigue or creepiness.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
16 June 2025
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People forget this, but Duke had already won Game 1 of that Super Regional.—
Mitch Light,
New York Times,
16 June 2025
Verb
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Cane then sneaks up from behind and kills Grady’s men, freeing his father.—
Keith Langston,
People.com,
21 June 2025
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Universal Studios Florida began its iteration of the attraction in 1990, SyFy noted, featuring, of course, a (mechanical) great white shark that snuck up on riders of the boat tour.—
Tim Lammers,
Forbes.com,
20 June 2025
Verb
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Set in a vibey, transportive space that feels straight out of a Dubai or Beirut hotspot, Laya serves up a Sunday brunch escape… with a generous mouthful of garlic.—
Chelsea Frank,
Forbes.com,
15 June 2025
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The individual then escaped, believed to have escaped outside the back of the house.—
Mandy Taheri
Peter Aitken
Hollie Silverman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
15 June 2025
Verb
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Mission slipped into 2025 because ULA needed more Vulcan rocket hardware beyond Cert-2 and the two USSF missions that took priority over the Dream Chaser flight.—
Richard Tribou,
The Orlando Sentinel,
14 June 2025
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If wider markets slip, so may the appetite for future fintech floats.—
Ron Shevlin,
Forbes.com,
14 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Shirk.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shirk. Accessed 29 Jun. 2025.
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