SHOULDERED Synonyms: 69 Similar and Opposite Words

shouldered

verb

past tense of shoulder

as in assumed

to take to or upon oneself agreed to shoulder the burden of caring for their elderly father

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in pushed

to force one's way shouldered through the crowd at the bar and ordered a drink

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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 shouldered That was the part of Tuesday’s 125-124 loss Fernández didn’t want Brown to forget, even as the sixth overall pick shouldered responsibility for two costly mistakes. — C.j. Holmes, New York Daily News, 28 Oct. 2026 So far, though, employers have shouldered most of that increase. — Tara Bannow, STAT, 22 Oct. 2026 Golden State coach Natalie Nakase shouldered the blame for the defensive issues. — ABC News, 22 Oct. 2026 Naomi Ackie, who plays the scientist charged with Hagen’s experimental procedure, praised how her co-star shouldered what was a very challenging role. — Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 16 Oct. 2026 The writers’ stories, set in vastly different places, converge around the unique responsibilities shouldered by women. — The New Yorker, New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2026 On message boards and on call-in shows, Lewis, who turned 19 late last month, has shouldered much of the blame. — Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 10 Oct. 2026 Musically schooled in Vienna, Higginson hired the players, chose the conductors, and shouldered the deficits. — Joseph Horowitz, The New York Review of Books, 19 Sep. 2026 Few of these sit-downs play out with meaningful differences until late into the runtime, during which Faria is shouldered with dramatic heavy lifting that doesn’t quite gel with her approach. — Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 13 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for shouldered

Verb

Each has assumed a new place of influence within the Democratic Party over the last two years, filling a power vacuum created by President Joe Biden’s exit from the political stage.

— David Sivak, The Washington Examiner, 28 Oct. 2026
Notably, Republican voters’ approval of Congress has dropped from 53% shortly after the GOP assumed control of Washington to 29% today.

— Morgan Chalfant, semafor.com, 28 Oct. 2026

Definition of assumed

Verb

If the Fed keeps rates on hold, Warsh will be pushed to explain why the central bank hiked in September but not this month.

— Christopher Rugaber, Chicago Tribune, 28 Oct. 2026
Rising chronic stress and a hunger for passive recovery spaces have pushed the concept out of clinical and special-education settings into mainstream residential yards.

— Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Sacbee.com, 28 Oct. 2026

Definition of pushed

Verb

Rogers, the Republican Senate candidate, has embraced the strategy, claiming, without offering any evidence, that El-Sayed has accepted campaign contributions from supporters of Hezbollah and Hamas.

— Eliza Griswold, New Yorker, 30 Oct. 2026
Martinez Gonzalez helped arrange travel after customers arrived and accepted payments while working with his girlfriend and co-defendant, Marianny Lucia Lopez-Torres.

— Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 30 Oct. 2026

Definition of accepted

Verb

Apple has already implemented a series of price hikes on some of its hardware offerings due to rising memory costs, but margins can still be squeezed if the full increase wasn't passed through.

— Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 1 Nov. 2026
But in Israel at least, creatives have been stymied in recent years by a plethora of measures that have left them squeezed between censorship at home and international boycotts.

— Max Goldbart, Deadline, 30 Oct. 2026

Definition of squeezed

Verb

There was also no aggressive move into — and subsequent pullback from — China, which many big brands undertook in the early 2020s.

— Ashley Ogawa Clarke, Vogue, 29 Oct. 2026
Elliott, who is 56 and a software engineer by trade, touted an effort his office undertook in September after the storms in which communities can borrow up to $1 million at 2% interest for cleanup and repairs.

— Michelle L. Quinn, Chicago Tribune, 27 Oct. 2026

Definition of undertook

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shoulder bags

shouldered

shouldering

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“Shouldered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shouldered. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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Synonyms of shouldered

verb

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