Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of aw-shucks Like Francona, Miley’s aw-shucks facade belies an understanding of the game that borders on genius. C. Trent Rosecrans, New York Times, 16 June 2025 Monologuing for an hour and a half is no walk in the park, but the genial A-lister tackles the task at hand with aw-shucks charisma and confidence. Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 13 June 2025 Wilson puts most of his aw-shucks charm to the side to play this spacey wannabe, portraying Eli instead with a pitiable whine or some far-out detachment. Joe Reid, Vulture, 12 June 2025 Almost immediately, Carrie made the character her own, bringing in a sort of aw-shucks Midwestern sweetness. Michelle King, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2025 Nimmo has matured from an aw-shucks kid from Wyoming into a verifiable team leader, a guy who cried tears of joy on the field last season when the Mets clinched their first postseason series at Citi Field. Tim Britton, New York Times, 30 May 2025 The connections Plunkett draws between Frost’s lyric poems and their literary influences are valuable, particularly for anyone taken in by Frost’s aw-shucks persona. Maggie Doherty, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025 Image The Killer Inside Me By Jim Thompson From the outside, Lou Ford seems to be every bit the easygoing, aw-shucks deputy sheriff of a small Texas town. S.a. Cosby, New York Times, 22 Feb. 2025 His aw-shucks face was his biggest asset as Joe Biden and even the devil himself. Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 13 Feb. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for aw-shucks
Adjective
  • And if anyone was naive enough to imagine the U.S.-led tournament in 2026 would be free of such political baggage, then surely the increasingly public proximity of the Trump-Infantino relationship has dispelled those illusions.
    Oliver Kay, New York Times, 20 June 2025
  • Biography Ellmann-style was left looking hopelessly naive in its effort to understand the work by understanding its writer’s life.
    Eric Bulson, The Atlantic, 16 June 2025
Adjective
  • On July 8, U.S. soldiers escorting a train fired at crowds in Hammond, killing an innocent bystander.
    Robert Loerzel, Chicago Tribune, 22 June 2025
  • Night in West Texas is a probing look at the cracks in the American justice system and how one innocent man so easily slipped through them.
    Matthew Carey, Deadline, 21 June 2025
Adjective
  • The simplest way to achieve your goal may be a version of the truth that’s not the whole truth.
    R. Eric Thomas, Chicago Tribune, 17 June 2025
  • While to some these screen-free devices may seem like a return to the early, simpler days of fitness trackers, Werring says the public is a bit more savvy than the step-counting obsessives of the 2010s.
    Andrew Williams, Forbes.com, 17 June 2025
Adjective
  • Houde said these mammoth animals are a primitive group of proboscideans ('elephantoids') from which modern elephants evolved.
    Joseph J. Kolb, Fox News, 18 July 2017
  • Many are primitive and remote, and don’t have restrooms or water.
    OregonLive.com, OregonLive.com, 12 July 2017

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Cite this Entry

“Aw-shucks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/aw-shucks. Accessed 2 Jul. 2025.

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