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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Recent Examples of shrew
Rats, cats, tree squirrels, manatees, harbor seals, sea otters, pole cats, shrews, tammar wallabies, sea lions, and naked mole-rats all share strikingly similar basic whisker anatomies, according to various prior studies.
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ArsTechnica,
12 Feb. 2026
Especially early on in the campaign, when I was being attacked as being angry, a shrew, demeaning my husband — all these labels were coming in on me that were essentially trying to rob me of that femininity.
—
Janine Rubenstein,
PEOPLE,
28 Oct. 2025
The 2025 list of extinctions includes a bird, a shrew and a species of snail, among others.
—
Doyle Rice,
USA Today,
18 Oct. 2025
The shrew is one of these mammals, according to the study.
—
Irene Wright,
Miami Herald,
27 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shrew
ArsTechnica,
12 Feb. 2026
Especially early on in the campaign, when I was being attacked as being angry, a shrew, demeaning my husband — all these labels were coming in on me that were essentially trying to rob me of that femininity.
—
Janine Rubenstein,
PEOPLE,
28 Oct. 2025
The 2025 list of extinctions includes a bird, a shrew and a species of snail, among others.
—
Doyle Rice,
USA Today,
18 Oct. 2025
The shrew is one of these mammals, according to the study.
—
Irene Wright,
Miami Herald,
27 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shrew
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shrew
Noun
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Into this vacuum, a misogynistic sense of her as a harridan or a drug-using flake emerged.
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Given its plotting, Brooks’s movie could easily have made Iris into a harridan and Isaac into a sociopathic rogue.
Noun
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But where the original video vixen era prioritized physical spectacle and often reduced its subjects to aesthetic objects, this new wave is about intentional community-building.
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Robin Hood was portrayed as a fox, Little John was depicted as a bear, Friar Tuck as a badger, Prince John as a lion, the sheriff of Nottingham as a wolf and Maid Marian as a vixen.
Noun
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Like most eagles, the aviary says the female harpy is significantly larger than the male — sometimes twice the size.
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And because harpies rely on large emergent trees for nesting and an extensive, continuous canopy for hunting, even partial deforestation will severely disrupt their ability to breed and forage.
Noun
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The House passed a bipartisan package of children’s online safety bills in a 267-117 vote Monday, advancing legislation that supporters say would better protect children online but critics warn could threaten privacy and free expression.
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Guo Wengui, who fled China a decade ago and reinvented himself as a US -based Communist Party critic, was sentenced in a Manhattan courtroom packed with his supporters by Judge Analisa Torres.
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.
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Meredith is a stereotypical virago updated with modern libertarian notions.
Noun
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Fist of fury Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark continues to get knocked around in the WNBA, including getting a fist in the throat from Phoenix Mercury guard Alyssa Thomas, who only received a one-game suspension and fine.
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The sociologist Max Weber foresaw the paralysis of this bureaucratization that is now unleashing a rising fury against democracy itself.
Cite this Entry
“Shrew.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shrew. Accessed 4 Jul. 2026.
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