1
as in avoided
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 neglected
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 sneaked
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 shirked
Rudnev shirked money, power, and influence, of any kind.
—
William Jones, USA Today, 20 Feb. 2026
Importers are supposed to notify Cal Fire when a shipment arrives, but a Bee investigation found that the companies linked to the Esparto property shirked that requirement for years.
—Jake Goodrick, Sacbee.com, 22 Jan. 2026
In the court’s majority opinion, Justice Amy Coney Barrett forcefully pushed back against Jackson’s suggestion the court shirked on its duty to protect the people from government overreach.
—Ella Lee, The Hill, 27 June 2025
William Jones, USA Today, 20 Feb. 2026
Importers are supposed to notify Cal Fire when a shipment arrives, but a Bee investigation found that the companies linked to the Esparto property shirked that requirement for years.
—Jake Goodrick, Sacbee.com, 22 Jan. 2026
In the court’s majority opinion, Justice Amy Coney Barrett forcefully pushed back against Jackson’s suggestion the court shirked on its duty to protect the people from government overreach.
—Ella Lee, The Hill, 27 June 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shirked
Verb
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Police on Saturday had reported that initial information suggested two people at the rear of the group had avoided the slide.—
Caelyn Pender,
Mercury News,
25 Feb. 2026
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Maybe if Robinson had 31-inch arms the Dolphins wouldn’t have romanticized him so much, and avoided selecting him with the 21st overall pick.—
Omar Kelly,
Miami Herald,
25 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The working group was tasked with looking at the upkeep of veterans’ graves and finding ways to make sure their graves are properly kept and not neglected.—
Helen I. Bennett,
Hartford Courant,
26 Feb. 2026
-
The mall had insufficient exterior lighting, the city said, and graffiti resulting from deferred or neglected maintenance.—
Roger Vincent,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Rodrigues deked Woll and snuck the puck past him for the Panthers’ third goal of the period.—
Adam Lichtenstein,
Sun Sentinel,
27 Feb. 2026
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Svetlana Dali, a mentally ill stowaway who sneaked onto a flight to Paris last year, is back to her plane-hopping ways.—
Thomas Tracy,
New York Daily News,
26 Feb. 2026
Verb
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What emerged, Jackson told the court Thursday, was the portrait of a transient and calculating offender who operated across multiple states and evaded law enforcement for years.—
Austin Sanders,
Austin American Statesman,
21 Feb. 2026
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Song evaded capture for two weeks.—
Kevin Krause,
Dallas Morning News,
18 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Leonard lurked in the background of the All-Star hubbub, leaving his noise on the court as the only routine Ingram could watch.—
Benjamin Royer,
Oc Register,
16 Feb. 2026
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Expecting to find traces of the past in the old town of Regensburg, at first, archaeologists believed nothing that exciting lurked here.—
Maria Mocerino,
Interesting Engineering,
8 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Ryan struck out Nolan Arenado and walked a batter but escaped the inning when Dalton Rushing threw the runner out trying to steal second base.—
Bill Plunkett,
Oc Register,
26 Feb. 2026
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My father and his immediate family escaped from Vienna to the United States on the eve of the outbreak of the war.—
Cary Lowe,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
26 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Iran had, 10 days earlier, fired a barrage of missiles at Israel in response to its attacks, including one that slipped through Israel's sophisticated air defenses and landed in the heart of its capital, Tel Aviv.—
Tucker Reals,
CBS News,
27 Feb. 2026
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On a frigid day late last month, a Russian attack drone slipped through Ukraine’s air-defense systems and glided into Kyiv’s government district, heading in the direction of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office.—
Simon Shuster,
The Atlantic,
27 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Buildings slid into decay, forcing out the elderly renters, bringing in an underclass -- criminals, dope users, the poor, unemployed Mariel refugees.—
Miami Herald Archives,
Miami Herald,
27 Feb. 2026
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Rocket Lab — The space company’s stock price slid 5%.—
Liz Napolitano,
CNBC,
27 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shirked.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shirked. Accessed 2 Mar. 2026.
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