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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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 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
-
Into this vacuum, a misogynistic sense of her as a harridan or a drug-using flake emerged.—
Daniel D'Addario,
Variety,
3 Feb. 2026
-
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
Noun
-
Rather than returning to a patient Penelope, Rip has fled the termagant Dame Van Winkle.—
John Swansburg,
The Atlantic,
10 Oct. 2025
-
But the film belongs to Moreno, clearly relishing the chance to play an unapologetic termagant.—
David Rooney,
The Hollywood Reporter,
13 Mar. 2022
Noun
-
But through no fault of the actress, the film starts to sag as Erika morphs from intoxicating vixen to deceitfully manipulative monster.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
24 Jan. 2026
-
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
Noun
-
There was misogyny, of course: women are harpies or one of the boys.—
Akhil Sharma,
New Yorker,
28 Jan. 2026
-
In the right-wing imagination, these women are acting like harpies — an epithet often seen online — when they’re supposed to be helpmeets.—
Michelle Goldberg,
Mercury News,
20 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Yet there is no real escapism, because for all her critics, Gu is the harshest.—
Charlotte Harpur,
New York Times,
23 Feb. 2026
-
The film earned approximately $368 million globally, becoming one of the top-grossing movies of the year in addition to its glowing critic and audience reviews.—
Shania Russell,
Entertainment Weekly,
22 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
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
-
Meredith is a stereotypical virago updated with modern libertarian notions.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
5 July 2023
Noun
-
This specialized canvas allowed Michaela McManus to fully explore the depths of her character’s fury.—
William Earl,
Variety,
20 Feb. 2026
-
Republicans often couched their fury at speech restrictions — around right-wing cultural politics and COVID-19, in particular — as part of a broader critique of corporate power.—
Ben Smith,
semafor.com,
16 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shrew.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shrew. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
