1
as in assumes
to take to or upon oneself
agreed to shoulder the burden of caring for their elderly father
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Recent Examples of shoulders
The least productive line of the four against Minnesota was the second unit, but that trio also shoulders significant defensive responsibilities.
—
Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 20 May 2026
Cunningham shoulders the weight of a city thirsty for meaningful basketball.
—Hunter Patterson, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2026
Charismatic and charming as ever, Gosling easily shoulders the job of being the only human onscreen for an epoch.
—Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2026
There is great skepticism about Ellison’s ability to make the high-wire act work while Paramount Skydance shoulders a mountain of debt supplied by a consortium that includes Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds.
—Brent Lang, Variety, 27 Feb. 2026
Teams feel uncertainty at the top, momentum slows, and the CEO quietly shoulders more stress, not less.
—Melissa Houston, Forbes.com, 27 Jan. 2026
Buckley shoulders intense on-screen distress without losing grasp of her character’s humanity, and Mescal lets his wan charm melt into something more haunted as Shakespeare ages and wrestles with loss.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 27 Nov. 2025
Atop that sits the conundrum of living in a city so small that every citizen shoulders the stress of celebrity.
—Literary Hub, 26 Nov. 2025
The Arabic word sirāt can refer to, among other things, the razor-thin bridge that leads, over the chasm of Hell, to paradise—a heavy burden of eschatological significance, but the film shoulders it lightly.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 14 Nov. 2025
Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 20 May 2026
Cunningham shoulders the weight of a city thirsty for meaningful basketball.
—Hunter Patterson, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2026
Charismatic and charming as ever, Gosling easily shoulders the job of being the only human onscreen for an epoch.
—Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2026
There is great skepticism about Ellison’s ability to make the high-wire act work while Paramount Skydance shoulders a mountain of debt supplied by a consortium that includes Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds.
—Brent Lang, Variety, 27 Feb. 2026
Teams feel uncertainty at the top, momentum slows, and the CEO quietly shoulders more stress, not less.
—Melissa Houston, Forbes.com, 27 Jan. 2026
Buckley shoulders intense on-screen distress without losing grasp of her character’s humanity, and Mescal lets his wan charm melt into something more haunted as Shakespeare ages and wrestles with loss.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 27 Nov. 2025
Atop that sits the conundrum of living in a city so small that every citizen shoulders the stress of celebrity.
—Literary Hub, 26 Nov. 2025
The Arabic word sirāt can refer to, among other things, the razor-thin bridge that leads, over the chasm of Hell, to paradise—a heavy burden of eschatological significance, but the film shoulders it lightly.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 14 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shoulders
Verb
-
Ours is a pay-as-you-go system, and the IRS assumes that your income is received evenly throughout the year, says Mark Luscombe, principal analyst for Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting.—
Liz Weston,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
31 May 2026
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As Bay Area News Group has reported, the county’s plan heavily relies on drawing down county cash reserves and assumes the recovery of millions in vehicle licensing revenues.—
Mercury News Editorial Board,
Mercury News,
29 May 2026
Verb
-
Cater pushes back on the idea that cutting carbs entirely is the answer.—
Samantha Agate,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
2 June 2026
-
That lag pushes the peak of sea surface temperature in the Atlantic from the mid-June solstice to mid-September.—
Meghan Bartels,
Scientific American,
1 June 2026
Verb
-
Scorsese is the highest-profile filmmaker to embrace the technology roiling many of his Hollywood peers and potentially representing a paradigm shift in how the film industry accepts its use.—
Corbin Bolies,
Variety,
3 June 2026
-
Because California accepts and counts large numbers of mail-in ballots after Election Day, final results were not immediately available.—
Barnini Chakraborty,
The Washington Examiner,
3 June 2026
Verb
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Figures move across these planes in extravagant silhouette, heads tilted just so, fingers stiffly splayed and elbows akimbo.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
1 May 2026
-
Before the Bride elbows her way into his life, Frank, ever so lonely, retreats into the world of movies.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
4 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
The art world, with its credentialism, opaque jargon, and tendency to bow to powerful interests, bears a structural resemblance to both politics and academia.—
Katy Siegel,
Artforum,
2 June 2026
-
This collection of poems—Orr’s thirteenth—bears bitter witness to environmental degradation, moral corruption, and the aging of a body and of a generation, all viewed from a bird’s eye, wrapped in the language and tone of myth.—
Craig Morgan Teicher,
Literary Hub,
1 June 2026
Verb
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Even Zach Cherry squeezes plenty from his part as the dealership’s manager, who grows loudly resentful when Nate seems more emotionally invested in his biological children than coworkers.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
27 May 2026
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War squeezes African, Asian economies further The fallout of the Iran war deepened globally as countries struggled to contain the impact of rising fuel and commodity prices.—
Semafor Events,
semafor.com,
22 May 2026
Verb
-
One year later, the XFL muscles its way onto the national sports scene with its first two games.—
Assistant Sports Editor,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Feb. 2026
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Gringo Films does not sound like the kind of company that muscles its way into the global animation business.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
29 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Shoulders.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shoulders. Accessed 5 Jun. 2026.
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