SHELLED OUT Synonyms: 31 Similar and Opposite Words

shelled out

verb

past tense of shell out

as in paid

to hand over or use up in payment we shelled out an obscene amount of money for those concert tickets

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Recent Examples of shelled out Yes, the suspiciously delicious chicken shelled out at mall food courts on toothpicks is most likely bourbon chicken. — Jesse Szewczyk, Bon Appetit Magazine, 13 Oct. 2026 The city of Los Angeles has shelled out nearly $480 million over the last seven and a half years to end legal disputes involving the LAPD, according to a Times analysis. — Sean Greene, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2026 That would be a strong result had Amazon MGM Studios not shelled out $40 million to buy the film and tens of millions more to market it. — Brent Lang, IndieWire, 4 Oct. 2026 The event, meant to bow in early December, historically has shelled out millions to lure top talent like Will Smith, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michelle Williams and Halle Berry. — Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 30 Sep. 2026 The two favorites according to DraftKings—the Panthers and 2026 champion Carolina Hurricanes, each with +650 odds—haven’t shelled out big bucks to any players. — Lev Akabas, Sportico.com, 29 Sep. 2026 The space agency shelled out billions of dollars to Boeing as well as SpaceX for ferry service once the space shuttles retired. — Marcia Dunn, Fortune, 28 Sep. 2026 And Meta shelled out $14 billion in 2025 for a minority stake in Scale AI in a deal that brought in the startup’s founder, Alexandr Wang, to spin up a new AI division. — Kif Leswing, CNBC, 28 Sep. 2026 Per Deadline reporting, House of the Dragon cost nearly $200 million and was the subject of HBO’s biggest marketing campaign ever, valued at over $100M in media spend (that’s a combo of ad spot value and hard cash shelled out). — Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 1 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for shelled out

Verb

The deal is reportedly worth $15 million a year, nearly four times what James is paid to play basketball for the Philadelphia 76ers.

— Hannah Keyser, CNN Money, 18 Oct. 2026
Among the city’s top 15 earners, 11 were police officers and supervisors — all paid more than $245,000 per year.

— Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 18 Oct. 2026

Definition of paid

Verb

Art of Play then shared another statement, explaining that Clark spent just five minutes in the store before taking off.

— Allison DeGrushe, StyleCaster, 13 Oct. 2026
Having studied fashion and previously working as a stylist, Jouffret has spent the past eight years overseeing the costumes and characters that appear on-screen.

— Tanya Fedak, Variety, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of spent

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shelled

shelled out

shell game

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“Shelled out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shelled%20out. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of shelled out

verb

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