as in harridan
a bad-tempered scolding woman
Rip Van Winkle went off into the mountains to escape his wife, a shrew who made his life miserable
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of shrew
The shrew is one of these mammals, according to the study.
—
Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 27 Aug. 2025
The elephant shrew genus Macroscelides was the sole exception, shifting to omnivory after adopting myrmecophagy during the Eocene.
—Rupendra Brahambhatt, ArsTechnica, 20 Aug. 2025
In animal studies, TDN helped obese mice and musk shrews lose weight and become more responsive to insulin.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 5 Aug. 2025
And the team has since published the complete genomic coding sequences for the new virus – Gainesville shrew mammalian orthoreovirus type 3 strain UF-1.
—New Atlas, 14 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for shrew
Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 27 Aug. 2025
The elephant shrew genus Macroscelides was the sole exception, shifting to omnivory after adopting myrmecophagy during the Eocene.
—Rupendra Brahambhatt, ArsTechnica, 20 Aug. 2025
In animal studies, TDN helped obese mice and musk shrews lose weight and become more responsive to insulin.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 5 Aug. 2025
And the team has since published the complete genomic coding sequences for the new virus – Gainesville shrew mammalian orthoreovirus type 3 strain UF-1.
—New Atlas, 14 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for shrew
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shrew
Noun
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Given its plotting, Brooks’s movie could easily have made Iris into a harridan and Isaac into a sociopathic rogue.—
Graham Hillard,
The Washington Examiner,
15 Aug. 2025
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As written, and as played quite winningly by Siff, Silverman’s Tekla is neither a kitten nor a harridan.—
Jesse Green,
New York Times,
19 May 2025
Noun
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Rather than returning to a patient Penelope, Rip has fled the termagant Dame Van Winkle.—
John Swansburg,
The Atlantic,
10 Oct. 2025
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But the film belongs to Moreno, clearly relishing the chance to play an unapologetic termagant.—
David Rooney,
The Hollywood Reporter,
13 Mar. 2022
Noun
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This was the case everywhere from her video vixen days—think: Heavy D and Big Daddy Kane music videos—to the red carpet, and more.—
Essence,
Essence,
15 Dec. 2025
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The model is a vintage vixen in an archival gold sequin Elie Saab gown.—
Brittany Talarico,
PEOPLE,
4 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Think a front desk hewn from Dionysos marble and sconces in the shape of harpies.—
Sam Cochran,
Architectural Digest,
11 Aug. 2025
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For those guys, mothers are either harpies or sirens—villains or traps.—
Helen Shaw,
The New Yorker,
2 May 2024
Noun
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Washington Post food critic Elazar Sontag entertains your restaurant questions, rants and raves.—
Elazar Sontag,
Washington Post,
14 Jan. 2026
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Flynn, a Wu critic who nominated Worrell, was assigned to chair city services.—
Gayla Cawley,
Boston Herald,
13 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Skin is important here, not just its color but its texture as Josephine, for example, goes from elegant sophisticate to sweaty, sunburned, frizzy virago increasingly swollen with pregnancy and angry mosquito bites.—
Jessica Kiang,
Variety,
25 Aug. 2023
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Meredith is a stereotypical virago updated with modern libertarian notions.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
5 July 2023
Noun
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That long-simmering resentment has also helped lead to the national sense of fury and crisis.—
David Remnick,
New Yorker,
11 Jan. 2026
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O’Brien spoke at the Oxford Union earlier this week and reflected on how the ire around the current administration has resulted in less laughs and too much fury.—
Emily Zemler,
Rolling Stone,
9 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shrew.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shrew. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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