1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

shearing

verb

present participle of shear
1
as in shaving
to make (something) shorter or smaller with the use of a cutting instrument it took almost a week to shear all the wool off the flock of sheep

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in slicing
to penetrate with a sharp edge (as a knife) the shark's razor-sharp teeth sheared the swimmer's flesh right down to the bone

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 shearing Cut individual branches rather than shearing the shrub like a hedge. — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 31 Aug. 2026 The fledgling storm was affected by shearing winds that forecasters expected to prevent it from building into the kind of hurricane that can sometimes quickly develop in the Gulf just offshore. — N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA Today, 24 July 2026 Harryson says to avoid shearing the entire plant into a tight mound, cutting into the crown, removing emerging spring shoots, and pruning too early. — Madeline Buiano, Martha Stewart, 16 June 2026 In that 1964 work, Ono sat still on a stage, a pair of scissors beside her, as audience members took turns shearing her clothing. — Julie L. Belcove, Architectural Digest, 12 June 2026 The plants bloom in late spring and early summer and can be encouraged to bloom again by shearing the plants back by two-thirds after the first flowers fade. — Lynn McAlpine, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Mar. 2026 Sophomore Joe Teter enjoyed the honor of shearing Dunckel’s head. — Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Nov. 2025 The video shows the Amazon drone shearing the wire line. — Annie Palmer, CNBC, 26 Nov. 2025 The film reunited him with Morrison, who played the head of a sheep-shearing family business in northeastern New Zealand in the 1950s. — Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shearing
  1. shaving
  2. slicing
  3. cutting
  4. slitting
  5. trimming
  6. ripping
  7. clipping
  8. slashing
Verb
  • Current standalone pricing for LPCAMM2 modules on Framework's website is $800 for the 32GB kit and $1,600 for the 64GB kit, so even shaving $50 off that would be welcome.
    — Jon Martindale, PC Magazine, 9 Sep. 2026
  • This is the approach taken by Verdantas, whose results now include shaving cycle time from between 10 and 14 days to hours.
    — Chris Stegh, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of shaving
Verb
  • Our two Indonesian terrorists/arms dealers take turns slicing jumbo-size leaves of flesh off of Reacher’s leaking husk.
    — Chris Klimek, Vulture, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Throwing off-platform, Jackson hit Flowers in stride, and Flowers did the rest, slicing through the defense with electric speed for the touchdown.
    — Ted Nguyen, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of slicing
Verb
  • On a September 2026 episode of Not Just Football With Cam Heyward, Rodgers offered a small nugget about how the wedding went down before cutting himself off.
    — Brianna Zigler, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Sep. 2026
  • The victim told police a handful of men had gotten together drinking and smoking while a tree cutting crew was in the neighborhood after recent storms, records state.
    — Meredith Colias-Pete, Chicago Tribune, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of cutting
Verb
  • The prosecutor said Tran tried to take his own life by slitting a wrist, cutting his neck and poking a blade into his stomach.
    — Sean Emery, Oc Register, 5 Mar. 2026
  • When Rochelle Luna, 18, arrived at the house hours later, Djerf bound, gagged and raped her before stabbing her and slitting her throat, court records said.
    — Elena Santa Cruz, AZCentral.com, 19 Sep. 2025
Definition of slitting
Verb
  • Landlords Even before legislation banning institutional investors from purchasing more single-family homes became law, the eight largest Wall Street landlords were trimming their portfolios.
    — Lew Sichelman, Miami Herald, 3 Sep. 2026
  • The changes include cutting small teams consisting of one to two reports by nearly half and trimming employees seven steps away from the CEO by 20%.
    — Samantha Subin, CNBC, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of trimming
Verb
  • On Sunday, a severe thunderstorm swept through the Kansas City area, leaving thousands of residents without power, ripping the roof off of one building, and canceling a portion of the annual SantaCaliGon Days festival in Independence.
    — Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 7 Sep. 2026
  • Mensah looked as good as the numbers suggested, too, ripping NFL-level throws and distributing the ball to his myriad playmakers, namely wide receiver Malachi Toney.
    — Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of ripping
Verb
  • Brands, including sports leagues, understand that content clipping is both a marketing strategy and a way to engage with new and established audiences.
    — Felipe Cardenas, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Murphy is engaging enough to keep things clipping right along (and Emma is a heroine very easy to root for), but things are at their very best when Emma and Luke are giving into their big feelings.
    — Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 13 Sep. 2026
Definition of clipping
Verb
  • The new approach, the research team explains, could replace the current slow, labor-intensive process, ultimately slashing the cost of production.
    — Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Lululemon is down more than 20% after reporting a weak quarter and slashing its full-year outlook.
    — Jeff Marks, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of slashing

Browse Nearby Words

sheared
shearing
shears
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Shearing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shearing. Accessed 18 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of churlish

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 18
See More

Popular

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
crayons-in-a-circle
Guess the Color Quiz Questions that use the whole box of crayons.
See All