SHIRKS Synonyms: 86 Similar and Opposite Words

shirks

verb

present tense third-person singular of shirk

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

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 Mbappe is right that pressing is a team effort, and one player who never shirks that effort is Valverde, whose endeavour was rewarded with surely the easiest goal of his career. — Dermot Corrigan, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026 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

Verb

This game may come down to whichever team controls the clock and avoids turnovers.

— David Troy OutKick, FOXNews.com, 11 Oct. 2026
Setting the shifting moods expertly is Michael Giacchino’s score that nicely avoids the clichés of the genre(s) while still honoring them.

— Pete Hammond, Deadline, 10 Oct. 2026

Definition of avoids

Verb

The longer that Washington neglects its own robotics sector, the further behind it will fall.

— Scott Singer, Foreign Affairs, 12 Oct. 2026
Both lawsuits seek damages based on a Missouri law that allows lawsuits against the secretary of state if the officeholder neglects their duties.

— Jack Harvel, Kansas City Star, 18 Sep. 2026

Definition of neglects

Verb

The Spurs superstar lurks down low near the basket, allowing guards to pressure aggressively on the perimeter.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2026
Clements sets the scene with lively pop music and excellent period-specific costuming, though darkness lurks beneath the funky 1970s groove.

— Marya E. Gates, IndieWire, 13 Sep. 2026

Definition of lurks

Verb

Neither of those interpretations would be entirely invalid, exactly, and yet The Basics of Philosophy — ironically enough, given its title — mostly evades any such moral didacticism.

— Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 4 Sep. 2026
Journalists and negotiators follow up when someone evades the point.

— Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Review, 2 Sep. 2026

Definition of evades

Verb

Owen Wilson plays an overprotective dad who sneaks his 13-year-old son (Christian Convery) into the festival.

— Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 2 Oct. 2026
The titular bed trick refers to the literary device, beloved by Shakespeare and by opera buffa, in which a lover sneaks into a bed and, under cover of darkness, is taken for someone else.

— S. C. Cornell, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2026

Definition of sneaks

Verb

This simply means that heat escapes extremely slowly through this material, which is comparable to fiberglass insulation.

— Maryna Holovnova, New Atlas, 12 Oct. 2026
Once this reaches a critical point, the gas escapes, driving magma with it until the supply in the magma chamber is exhausted.

— John Timmer, ArsTechnica, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of escapes

Verb

Steffi Oesterreich, a lobular breast cancer researcher at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in Pittsburgh who was not involved in Peet’s care, said the disease often slips past imaging.

— Samantha Agate, Miami Herald, 14 Oct. 2026
That front eventually slips south of the region Wednesday night, allowing cooler and drier air to move in Thursday.

— Grant Gilmore, CBS News, 12 Oct. 2026

Definition of slips

Browse Nearby Words

shirking

shirks

shirtdress

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Shirks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shirks. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of shirks

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

compunction

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

Popular in Wordplay

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Games & Quizzes