shirks

verb

present tense third-person singular of shirk
1
as in avoids
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

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in neglects
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 lurks
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

Example Sentences

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 shirks The Buñuelian skeptic in me also shirks at Fried’s approving references to Diderot’s petite église invisible, the small hidden church whose members—painters, critics, curators, patrons—are the vision-gifted serious pursuers of art history. — Carlos Valladares, ARTnews.com, 14 Aug. 2026 Nick, desperate to return to the present, shirks the doting parents and brother who long to comfort him. — Sam Bodrojan, IndieWire, 17 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shirks
  1. avoids
  2. neglects
  3. lurks
  4. evades
  5. sneaks
  6. escapes
  7. slips
  8. slinks
Verb
  • The outdoors become additional living space Lazime’s team also avoids installing air-conditioning whenever possible—instead, this home relies on ceiling fans in the warmer months.
    — Annabelle Dufraigne, Architectural Digest, 1 Sep. 2026
  • Aggregators typically disclose this information in their search filters, and knowing it in advance avoids confusion on arrival.
    — Matthew Kayser, USA Today, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of avoids
Verb
  • But the directive conspicuously neglects to mention local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions associated with data centers.
    — Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Nolan foregrounds the nobility that guides the character (his guilt, his dedication to his men, his yearning for his family) and neglects his wily cunning and egotism.
    — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 27 July 2026
Definition of neglects
Verb
  • His line of work has taught him that danger lurks everywhere.
    — Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Enjoy this underappreciated gem—just beware the Frogman, who lurks in Stephen’s mind and on every page.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of lurks
Verb
  • Journalists and negotiators follow up when someone evades the point.
    — Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Review, 2 Sep. 2026
  • Johnson has previously stated the Illinois constitution’s flat income tax rate evades the city’s wealth gap.
    — Claire Murphy, Chicago Tribune, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of evades
Verb
  • Manual friction sneaks in as systems fail to scale with growth or suffer from poor implementation.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2026
  • Caminos, who is on a different floor, sneaks around on foot to try and evade detection.
    — Jay Peters, The Verge, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of sneaks
Verb
  • But as Marty Supreme proved last year, debuting after the rest of the competition can also feel a bit like being the lone straggler in a bike race who escapes the cascading crash that takes out everyone else.
    — Nate Jones, Vulture, 2 Sep. 2026
  • Jordan, who escapes relatively unscathed, is at once cowed and traumatized yet committed to vengeance.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of escapes
Verb
  • At one point, Musashi slips on mud and slides headfirst through a crowd of Samurai.
    — Zackery Cuevas, PC Magazine, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Lunar eclipses occur when Earth slips between the sun and the moon and casts a shadow on the lunar surface.
    — Denise Chow, NBC news, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of slips
Verb
  • Claypool’s voice, formerly a sharp and declarative figure in the mix, slinks down into silty waters, often unintelligible and almost always emotionally ambiguous.
    — Sasha Geffen, Pitchfork, 2 Aug. 2026
  • Anne slinks off with her husband.
    — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2025
Definition of slinks

Browse Nearby Words

shirking
shirks
shirtdress
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Cite this Entry

“Shirks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shirks. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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