SHELLS OUT Synonyms: 31 Similar and Opposite Words

shells out

verb

present tense third-person singular of shell out

as in spends

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

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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.

Recent Examples of shells out As guests don waders and walk into the shallow bay to the floating baskets where Navy Cove cultivates its bivalves, co-owner Eric Bradley shells out oyster-farming facts. — Jennifer Stewart Kornegay, Southern Living, 30 May 2026 For hundreds less than competing flip phones, Motorola shells out a heavy dose of bendable fun. — Kimberly Gedeon, PC Magazine, 28 May 2026 Google already shells out billions to Apple each year to be the default search engine on iPhones. — Samantha Subin, CNBC, 27 Jan. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for shells out

Verb

Compared to a woman who spends her days toiling to defend some of America’s most underserved, Lee’s a man who wrote a puff piece about some rich, white dude.

— Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 15 Oct. 2026
For anyone who spends a lot of time online, the series’s AI origins are hard to miss.

— Britta Miller, The Washington Examiner, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of spends

Verb

So instead of making teams whole each time, the NFL now just pays teams’ travel expenses for their international game under the rationale that every team will lose a home game—and, in turn, home game ticket revenue—during that time.

— Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico.com, 16 Oct. 2026
The result is a politics in which almost everyone agrees that reform is urgently needed, provided someone else pays, and their own group’s advantages remain untouched.

— Nicholas Bequelin, Time, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of pays

Verb

But a new federal political action committee gives him a way to start building beyond Pennsylvania.

— Barnini Chakraborty, The Washington Examiner, 17 Oct. 2026
If benefits shrink or get taxed more aggressively down the road (which is a legitimate concern) having a tax-free income source gives you flexibility a pre-tax account simply can’t.

— Jeanne Sahadi, CNN Money, 17 Oct. 2026

Definition of gives

Browse Nearby Words

shell-shocked

shells out

shelter

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

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Synonyms of shells out

verb

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