as in to spend
to hand over or use up in payment
we shelled out an obscene amount of money for those concert tickets
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Recent Examples of shell out
In 2023, the studio's New Line Cinema subsidiary shelled out nearly $40 million to win the rights to Cregger's sophomore feature after the runaway success of his twisty, low-budget debut.
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Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 10 Aug. 2025
For years, the formula for success was simple: Climb the search rankings in Google and/or shell out for ads on Alphabet’s dominant search engine to drive traffic to a site.
—Chris Dobstaff, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2025
Two years later, Bullock shelled out $5.3 million for a second beachfront residence, a charming mint-green cottage just down the street.
—Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 25 July 2025
That’s many billions more than how much funding the three-year-old startup, reportedly valued at $18 billion, has raised so far, but CEO Aravind Srinivas claims that venture funds are willing to shell out money to back the transaction.
—Rashi Shrivastava, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shell out
Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 10 Aug. 2025
For years, the formula for success was simple: Climb the search rankings in Google and/or shell out for ads on Alphabet’s dominant search engine to drive traffic to a site.
—Chris Dobstaff, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2025
Two years later, Bullock shelled out $5.3 million for a second beachfront residence, a charming mint-green cottage just down the street.
—Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 25 July 2025
That’s many billions more than how much funding the three-year-old startup, reportedly valued at $18 billion, has raised so far, but CEO Aravind Srinivas claims that venture funds are willing to shell out money to back the transaction.
—Rashi Shrivastava, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shell out
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shell out
Verb
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With just three weeks to pull it all together, Bella spent countless hours working on the set, costumes and props.—
Andy Humbles,
The Tennessean,
30 Aug. 2025
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The 70-year-old man had spent every weekend at the cottage for 28 years, drinking entirely from the well.—
Austin Corona,
AZCentral.com,
30 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Mecklenburg voters will decide the fate of a referendum to raise the county’s sales tax to pay for road, rail and bus projects this November.—
Mary Ramsey,
Charlotte Observer,
26 Aug. 2025
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Officials would've had to raise taxes to pay for these projects, County Commissioner Marty Heffner said during a meeting in 2021.—
Kristine Phillips,
IndyStar,
26 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Top contenders including Nike and Lacoste all laid out their creative visions as negotiations intensified, and a few weeks later, Draper emerged with a contract from Vuori that Forbes estimates is comparable to the priciest Nike deals.—
Matt Craig,
Forbes.com,
22 Aug. 2025
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Abigail has spoken with Virginians across the Commonwealth who are being squeezed by high costs — and to get to work on day one to lower costs across the board for Virginians, Abigail laid out her Affordable Virginia Plan.—
Andrew Stanton,
MSNBC Newsweek,
20 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Shell out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shell%20out. Accessed 1 Sep. 2025.
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