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
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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
The lawsuit — the 19th legal challenge California has filed against Trump’s federal government — argues that the Federal Highway Administration is shirking its legal responsibility to allocate the funds that were approved by Congress.
—
Grant Stringer, Mercury News, 7 May 2025
The scheme worked and the worker was let go after being caught red-handed in their attempts to shirk responsibilities.
—Matthew Impelli, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 June 2025
By contrast, the drama-less previous season, All Stars 9, shirked eliminations entirely in favor of playing for charity.
—Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 30 May 2025
Firms are also shirking responsibility for duties and seeking to pawn tariff costs off on suppliers.
—Kate Nishimura, Sourcing Journal, 22 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for shirk
Grant Stringer, Mercury News, 7 May 2025
The scheme worked and the worker was let go after being caught red-handed in their attempts to shirk responsibilities.
—Matthew Impelli, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 June 2025
By contrast, the drama-less previous season, All Stars 9, shirked eliminations entirely in favor of playing for charity.
—Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 30 May 2025
Firms are also shirking responsibility for duties and seeking to pawn tariff costs off on suppliers.
—Kate Nishimura, Sourcing Journal, 22 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for shirk
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shirk
Verb
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That ambiguity reflects a desire to maintain strategic flexibility and avoid premature entanglement in a potential war.—
Frank Lavin,
Forbes.com,
17 Aug. 2025
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Abbott put redistricting on the agenda at the urging of President Donald Trump, who wants to shore up Republicans’ narrow House majority and avoid a repeat of his first presidency, when the 2018 midterms restored Democrats to a House majority that blocked his agenda and twice impeached him.—
Alexandra Kukulka,
Chicago Tribune,
16 Aug. 2025
Verb
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In addition, don’t neglect fruits and veggies, both of which are high in important vitamins and minerals.—
Caroline Tien,
SELF,
6 Aug. 2025
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That’s the motive behind the city’s stepped up Quality of Life initiative, a campaign to attack the everyday, nagging offenses that make New Yorkers from the South Bronx to Sheepshead Bay feel neglected and ignored, Adams said.—
Leonard Greene,
New York Daily News,
4 Aug. 2025
Verb
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The moon will sweep close to the Pleiades open star cluster in the early morning hours of Aug. 16-17, with the ice giant Uranus lurking unseen nearby.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
14 Aug. 2025
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Mike Appel led the session from behind the board, with the engineer Louis Lahav at his side and a scattering of staff, friends, and other hangers-on lurking here and there.—
Peter Ames Carlin,
Rolling Stone,
13 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Scammers distribute invitations to food truck owners through Gmail accounts, often using multiple email addresses to evade scam blocking filters.—
Tamia Fowlkes,
jsonline.com,
14 Aug. 2025
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The other, finished in Sebring Orange, was able to evade authorities briefly but was eventually located three hours away in Martin County, Indiana.—
Bryan Hood,
Robb Report,
12 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Tristano said the 30-year-old incident and Jack in the Box’s previous failure to conquer the Chicago market during its first go-round will likely be forgotten by most consumers in the 2025 reboot.—
Robert Channick,
Chicago Tribune,
15 Aug. 2025
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It was announced well before the release of Cyberpunk 2077 and mostly forgotten about in the wake of the disastrous launch of that game.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes.com,
15 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Frances Haugen, a Facebook product manager turned whistleblower, snuck over ten thousand pages of documents and internal messages out of Facebook headquarters.—
Noah Giansiracusa,
Time,
7 Aug. 2025
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When Wednesday later sneaks into Willow Hill to get her Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen) out of the psychiatric hospital as well as uncover the outcast experiments happening in the basement, things go south when a monster breaks free.—
Carly Thomas,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Both eateries are open to the public, making this a great place to escape from the heat of the day while peeking inside the incredible interior of this historic building.—
Carley Rojas Ávila,
Forbes.com,
15 Aug. 2025
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What does this have to do with the series’ opening scene, in which nurse Melvin (Dan Fogler, whose recognizability counts as an early spoiler) escapes from a burning apartment, unable to save his mother?—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
14 Aug. 2025
Verb
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The open front is easy to slip on, while the eye-catching buttons allow for versatility of wear — bundle up or leave it open for an airy feel.—
Nicol Natale,
People.com,
13 Aug. 2025
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Since AirTags were made to track objects like keys and bags, slipping one into a shoe was just a matter of time.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
13 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Shirk.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shirk. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
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