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as in valley
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Recent Examples of shut-in
Her brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), is an agoraphobic shut-in failing to confront his mounting mental-health crises.
—
David Sims, The Atlantic, 12 Dec. 2025
That means overcoming Ella’s hostility and bridging the divide with her uncommunicative kid brother Casey (Spike Fearn), an MIT graduate who has become an agoraphobic shut-in since his breakup with beloved girlfriend Susan (Ayo Edebiri).
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 10 Dec. 2025
Without such intervention, low oil prices will spur demand and will also force production shut-ins across non-OPEC producers, helping to stabilize prices, according to the bank.
—Spencer Kimball, CNBC, 24 Nov. 2025
Visitors should pair the shut-ins with a stop at Elephant Rocks State Park, about a 15-minute drive away, which gets its name from a series of enormous pink granite boulders that are said to resemble circus elephants standing trunk to tail.
—Nicholas Derenzo, AFAR Media, 16 Sep. 2025
By visiting with the sick and shut-in, helping the bereaved, ministering to the incarcerated, always being willing to open the doors of Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church to more people, teaching theology to other pastors and more, Thornhill was a pastor.
—Sophia Tiedge, jsonline.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Emphasizing creativity, Maria Lee said kids chose a variety of ways to serve from lemonade stands contributing to Texas flood victims, flower deliveries to elderly shut-ins, park cleanups and adding flags to headstones at veterans cemeteries.
—Stuart Dyos, Nashville Tennessean, 7 Sep. 2025
While Miranda is busy building her empire, her husband Ray, a nurse with a hobby of taking random pills, has knocked up the eighteen-year-old granddaughter of one of his hospice patients; and her mother Joan, a widowed shut-in, is plotting a murder with Jesus.
—Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 28 Aug. 2025
Just as shut-in was the driver of a big Chevrolet Suburban, except that its 28% near-view in 2023 had not shrunk quite as much from the mere 56% view available to drivers of the body shape launched in 2000, the earliest tested.
—Ian Baker
august 21, New Atlas, 21 Aug. 2025
David Sims, The Atlantic, 12 Dec. 2025
That means overcoming Ella’s hostility and bridging the divide with her uncommunicative kid brother Casey (Spike Fearn), an MIT graduate who has become an agoraphobic shut-in since his breakup with beloved girlfriend Susan (Ayo Edebiri).
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 10 Dec. 2025
Without such intervention, low oil prices will spur demand and will also force production shut-ins across non-OPEC producers, helping to stabilize prices, according to the bank.
—Spencer Kimball, CNBC, 24 Nov. 2025
Visitors should pair the shut-ins with a stop at Elephant Rocks State Park, about a 15-minute drive away, which gets its name from a series of enormous pink granite boulders that are said to resemble circus elephants standing trunk to tail.
—Nicholas Derenzo, AFAR Media, 16 Sep. 2025
By visiting with the sick and shut-in, helping the bereaved, ministering to the incarcerated, always being willing to open the doors of Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church to more people, teaching theology to other pastors and more, Thornhill was a pastor.
—Sophia Tiedge, jsonline.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Emphasizing creativity, Maria Lee said kids chose a variety of ways to serve from lemonade stands contributing to Texas flood victims, flower deliveries to elderly shut-ins, park cleanups and adding flags to headstones at veterans cemeteries.
—Stuart Dyos, Nashville Tennessean, 7 Sep. 2025
While Miranda is busy building her empire, her husband Ray, a nurse with a hobby of taking random pills, has knocked up the eighteen-year-old granddaughter of one of his hospice patients; and her mother Joan, a widowed shut-in, is plotting a murder with Jesus.
—Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 28 Aug. 2025
Just as shut-in was the driver of a big Chevrolet Suburban, except that its 28% near-view in 2023 had not shrunk quite as much from the mere 56% view available to drivers of the body shape launched in 2000, the earliest tested.
—Ian Baker
august 21, New Atlas, 21 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shut-in
Noun
-
Multiple neighbors described Domenech as a recluse supported by her husband, an older man, who made daily food deliveries to his family while living out of a car.—
Colin Mixson,
Mercury News,
23 Jan. 2026
-
Years later, a recluse with recurring nightmares, her terrible past resurfaces.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
22 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Cumberland Gap Where Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia meet, Cumberland Gap sits in a valley that looks up at the famous gap in the Cumberland Mountain range from which the town gets its name.—
Tara Massouleh McCay,
Southern Living,
8 Jan. 2026
-
Narrow, winding streets and passageways lead up to the centuries-old Eglise Saint-Sauveur for sweeping views of the rugged valley.—
Evie Carrick,
Travel + Leisure,
8 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
At the same time, she becomes threatened by a minor scandal involving her dopey husband (Jack Lowden), all while dealing with her dysfunctional family, including the serial-cheater father (Woody Harrelson) who reenters her life and a brother (Spike Fearn) who has become something of a hermit.—
Esther Zuckerman,
Time,
12 Dec. 2025
-
On Monday morning, well-wishers, many wearing rain-coats, lined the roads behind a metal railing under drizzly skies as his convoy made its way through the winding roads near Beirut to the mountain-top tomb of a 19th century hermit now recognized as Saint Charbel Makhlouf.—
NPR,
NPR,
1 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
And that’s what makes things like Cook’s MLK quote ring a little hollow.—
Allison Morrow,
CNN Money,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Part of that is because the selection process doesn’t actually select the best players, rendering the accolade hollow.—
Sean Gentille,
New York Times,
16 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
But Williams’ homebody existence doesn’t dampen the wildfire energy Segel first got a hint of during a chemistry read over Zoom also attended by the series’ co-creators, Brett Goldstein and Bill Lawrence.—
CT Jones,
Rolling Stone,
26 Jan. 2026
-
Monique, meanwhile, was more of a homebody who enjoyed baking and playing board games.—
Samira Asma-Sadeque,
PEOPLE,
20 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Hollywood’s leading performers, venturing into the dark vale of middle age, have often been kindly treated by directors of photography, if not by screenwriters.—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
18 Sep. 2025
-
EchoStar’s deal last year to sell Dish Network to DirecTV — then majority-owned by AT&T — was scrapped after EchoStar bondholders rejected the debt-exchange terms that would have reduced the vale of their holdings.—
Todd Spangler,
Variety,
26 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
These single-pitch routes scale the park’s 60-foot-deep gorge and range from W12 to W13 in difficulty.—
Brian Higgins,
Outside,
28 Jan. 2026
-
Turn off your notifications and explore the string of eight state parks in the area, marveling at massive waterfalls, river gorges, and sweeping Superior views.—
Joie Probst,
Midwest Living,
25 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
This is also what allows what’s outside its doorstep to take precedence: the soul-stirring glens, spirit-rejuvenating streams, and craggy peaks of Cairngorms National Park.—
Arati Menon,
Condé Nast Traveler,
2 Jan. 2026
-
Easing out of Glasgow Central station, the Glasgow-to-Mallaig line follows the mighty River Clyde before darting into the wild glens of Loch Lomond.—
James March,
Travel + Leisure,
31 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Shut-in.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shut-in. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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