shirking

verb

Definition of shirkingnext
present participle of shirk
1
as in avoiding
to get or keep away from (as a responsibility) through cleverness or trickery you always try to shirk paying your fair share of the bill by claiming you "forgot" your wallet

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in neglecting
to leave undone or unattended to especially through carelessness a deadbeat who has been shirking his duty to his family for years

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in sneaking
to move about in a sly or secret manner given the multitude of auditoriums at the multiplex, it's not too difficult for underaged kids to shirk into R-rated movies

Synonyms & Similar Words

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for shirking
  1. avoiding
  2. neglecting
  3. evading
  4. lurking
  5. escaping
  6. slipping
Verb
  • Government agencies, too, are feeling the pressure to do more with less while avoiding service cuts.
    Eric Steele, Forbes, 26 Dec. 2024
  • Moreover, digital watermarks can be applied at the point of card manufacture, avoiding any supply chain disruption.
    Judy Moon, Forbes, 26 Dec. 2024
Definition of avoiding
Verb
  • When turnover is low, poor managers blend in with good ones, and even previously effective managers may grow complacent, neglecting employee motivation and productivity.
    Christine Michel Carter, Forbes, 5 Jan. 2025
  • To meet criteria for an involuntary exam, a person must be believed to have a mental illness and either 1) be a danger to self or others, or 2) be seriously self-neglecting.
    Carol Marbin Miller, Miami Herald, 2 Jan. 2025
Definition of neglecting
Verb
  • Rich had fled to Switzerland in 1983 after he was indicted on more than 50 counts of fraud and evading more than $48 million in taxes.
    Bart Jansen, USA TODAY, 24 Dec. 2024
  • Rosado was arrested and charged with engaging police in pursuit, evading responsibility, failure to obey stop sign, reckless driving, unreadable license plates, interfering with an officer, possession with intent to sell narcotics and operating a drug factory.
    Staff report, Hartford Courant, 17 Dec. 2024
Definition of evading
Verb
  • Young New Yorkers sense lions, tigers and bears lurking too.
    Caroline Aiken Koster, New York Daily News, 1 Jan. 2025
  • Smith incorporated people from other families, stories from the neighborhood—there’s a terrifying lurking child molester who came from a newspaper article.
    Perri Klass, The New Yorker, 30 Dec. 2024
Definition of lurking
Verb
  • Their family was on the run, escaping the mortar fire that drove them from their home in Hari Fara, one of the last refuges for Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority.
    Adam Ferguson, New York Times, 28 Dec. 2024
  • Three years on from escaping Scarlet Witch's spell that trapped the town Westview, New Jersey in an alternate dimension resembling an old TV show, Agatha enlists the help of a new coven of witches (including a game Aubrey Plaza) to take on old enemies and regain her powers.
    Andy Biggs, Newsweek, 25 Dec. 2024
Definition of escaping
Verb
  • Harrison took Georgia’s second-half kickoff all the way to the end zone, slipping a tackle near the middle of the field, cutting toward the right sideline and outrunning everyone.
    Brett Martel, The Denver Post, 2 Jan. 2025
  • Richardson failed at the first one; nailed the second, and was slipping on #3.
    Scott Powers, The Athletic, 30 Dec. 2024
Definition of slipping
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.

Thesaurus Entries Near shirking

shirkers

shirking

shirks

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Cite this Entry

“Shirking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shirking. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.

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More from Merriam-Webster on shirking

Nglish: Translation of shirking for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of shirking for Arabic Speakers

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