shrug

CEFRB2

/ʃrˈʌɡ/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To raise your shoulders to show doubt or lack of concern.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    A cropped, cardigan-like garment with short or long sleeves, typically knitted.

Examples

  • She gave a shrug of the shoulders.

  • Tom answered with another shrug.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
2
Citations
1

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meaning

  1. To raise (the shoulders) to express uncertainty, lack of concern, (formerly) dread, etc.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. A lifting of the shoulders to signal indifference or a casual lack of knowledge.

More examples

In context

  • He dismissed my comment with a shrug.

  • I asked him for an answer and he just shrugged.

  • When he saw the problem, he just shrugged and started fixing it.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

When I asked him a difficult question, he just blank his shoulders.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English schruggen, shrukken, probably of North Germanic origin related to Danish skrugge, skrukke (“to stoop; crouch”), Swedish skruga, skrukka (“to huddle; crouch”), all from or related to Old Norse skrykkva, from Proto-Germanic *skrinkwaną. Compare also Old English scrincan (“to shrink”). More at shrink.