shoveled

variants or shovelled
past tense of shovel
as in dug
to hollow out or form (something) by removing earth the troops quickly shoveled a trench

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

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 shoveled In the absence of heavy equipment, rescue workers, police and volunteers shoveled debris by hand at many sites, looking for survivors. Marc Ramirez, USA Today, 11 Aug. 2026 Tesla said Wednesday that its profits fell last quarter as the car company run by Elon Musk shoveled more money into research and development, cutting into profits from a sharp increase in vehicle sales. ABC News, 22 July 2026 Those mounds of soil — not apparent in the photograph — were consistent with digging a hole as dirt is shoveled out and dumped along the edge. Kenneth R. Gosselin, Hartford Courant, 5 July 2026 Quasars are the extremely active supermassive black holes at the heart of some galaxies, furiously feeding on gas that is being shoveled towards their maw, and growing as a result of this voracious feeding. Keith Cooper, Space.com, 12 June 2026 All that was left of the snow was shoveled into melting mounds at the edges of intersections and crosswalks. Jourdan Rodrigue, New York Times, 28 May 2026 Nothing reminded me of that as much as when Kimi and Myka, after doing runway walks in their hairnets and drab white protective garments, shoveled the graves of whey out of a slurry and pitched them into a giant bin. Brian Moylan, Vulture, 24 Apr. 2026 During construction, Black men shoveled mud through malarial swamps, while battling snakes and alligators in intense heat. Literary Hub, 10 Apr. 2026 In total, the crews shoveled out about 90 tons of debris – roughly the weight of 18 elephants. Caitlin Looby, jsonline.com, 25 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shoveled
Verb
  • Pits are frequently dug by hand and can reach several meters deep.
    ABC News, ABC News, 20 Aug. 2026
  • Rescuers dug through debris looking for anyone buried beneath landslides triggered by the quake across six regencies on Flores, a predominantly Catholic island in the Muslim-majority country.
    Firdia Lisnawati, Los Angeles Times, 17 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • The impact excavated pristine materials from below the lunar surface that have escaped weathering from the solar wind, galactic cosmic rays, and micrometeorites.
    Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Assistant Town Engineer Matt Gavelek said that the problems were created because, contrary to the town’s instructions, a large area of land was excavated.
    Jim Woods, Chicago Tribune, 19 Aug. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Shoveled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shoveled. Accessed 26 Aug. 2026.

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