How to Use shackle in a Sentence

shackle

1 of 2 noun
  • He was kept in shackles and handcuffs for 16 hours.
    — Steve Karnowski, Arkansas Online, 1 Mar. 2026
  • By the time the baby pushed through, the shackles had been taken off.
    — Tresa Baldas, USA TODAY, 24 Oct. 2019
  • The point, that a record deal can feel like shackles, is a familiar one.
    — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 20 Mar. 2018
  • Zeitlin’s Wendy, on the other hand, is freed from those shackles.
    — Anne Cohen, refinery29.com, 2 Mar. 2020
  • He was kept in ‘shackles and handcuffs’ for sixteen hours.
    — Steve Karnowski, Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2026
  • He was kept in 'shackles and handcuffs' for sixteen hours.
    — Wcco Staff, CBS News, 27 Feb. 2026
  • He was kept in ‘shackles and handcuffs’ for sixteen hours.
    — ABC News, 27 Feb. 2026
  • The lock includes a 15 mm steel shackle.
    — Bestreviews, Mercury News, 15 Apr. 2026
  • He was threatened with rape, hung from the ceiling in shackles and kicked in the face.
    — Sune Engel Rasmussen and Nazih Osseiran, WSJ, 11 Apr. 2018
  • The shackles were off, even if fragility remained.
    — Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025
  • In a skit where a kid is shackled in a dungeon, he's warned not to mess with his shackles.
    — Stacey Grant, Seventeen, 10 Dec. 2018
  • Use the key to reverse the lock the shackle to disarm the alarm for travel.
    — Matt Williams, Dallas News, 9 Dec. 2022
  • Bonnet—who is last seen reaching for the keys that will unlock his shackles.
    — Outlander Fan, Marie Claire, 21 Jan. 2019
  • Reiner stared straight ahead behind a glass wall with shackles on in the courtroom.
    — Ross O'Keefe, The Washington Examiner, 17 Dec. 2025
  • White men and women have cried after trying the shackles.
    — Terry Tang, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2026
  • Arnon Nampa’s youngest child runs toward the sound of shackles.
    — Helen Regan, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2025
  • Dominique was one of about 60 men in leg shackles and handcuffs bound to waist chains.
    — Guillermo Contreras, San Antonio Express-News, 3 May 2023
  • Free yourself from those stinking shackles!
    — The Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Jan. 2026
  • An obese woman, still in shackles, slumps over in her seat before rolling onto the bus’ dirty floor.
    — Alexis Burling, San Francisco Chronicle, 27 Apr. 2018
  • At her feet lay a broken shackle and chains to symbolize the end of slavery.
    — Reece Jones, CNN, 27 Oct. 2021
  • But Roe and Casey shackle States to a view of the facts that is decades out of date.
    — Devin Dwyer, ABC News, 22 July 2021
  • Erickson sat next to his lawyers in court wearing a red jail uniform and a shackle around his waist.
    — Colleen Slevin, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Sep. 2019
  • Each depicts a Black man, one in shorts, the other in a loincloth and shackles.
    — Michelle Aslam, Dallas News, 6 Apr. 2023
  • On the other hand, forming up shackles and fittings out of a hot piece of steel is no big deal for the anvil-equipped.
    — Roy Berendsohn, Popular Mechanics, 9 Aug. 2023
  • This is about shaking off the shackles of those one-size-fits-all limitations.
    — Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 18 Jan. 2026
  • This was supposed to be when France finally cast off all those years of shackles of chokes in big games.
    — Jonathan Tannenwald, Pro Soccer USA, 29 June 2019
  • Others still are led in shackles to the 10th floor where fellow migrants are held.
    — Carol Guzy, Miami Herald, 1 Jan. 2026
  • The researchers found no shackles, locks or iron grills inside the room (or blocking the doors and windows).
    — Julia Binswanger, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Aug. 2023
  • Footage of him in shackles is a welcome sight for those of us who care about individual rights.
    — Agustina Vergara Cid, Oc Register, 7 Jan. 2026
  • Handcuffs and shackles proved no match for one 19-year-old Utah man, police say.
    — Josh Magness, kansascity, 31 May 2018

shackle

2 of 2 verb
  • The guard shackled the prisoner.
  • His legs were shackled, but his hands were free.
    — Christina Fan, CBS News, 9 Jan. 2026
  • Nick's hands and his feet were shackled.
    — Lauryn Overhultz, FOXNews.com, 15 Dec. 2025
  • Davis said she was shackled to a bench for more than three hours.
    — Cameron Knight, Cincinnati.com, 25 Feb. 2020
  • No prison can hold me; no hand or leg irons or steel locks can shackle me.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 5 May 2022
  • One man said he was held on a bus shackled for 10 hours.
    — Miami Herald, 4 Dec. 2025
  • He is shackled by the feet and handcuffed.
    — Ginny Monk, Hartford Courant, 27 June 2026
  • The bedside lamps were shackled to the walls—a naughty touch.
    — Audrey Phoon, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Feb. 2018
  • They were shackled around their wrists, ankles and chest.
    — Selina Wang, ABC News, 10 Nov. 2025
  • Soon the refugee was shackled in the snow, hand bleeding, face bruised.
    — Dan Barry, New York Times, 12 May 2026
  • His wrists were cuffed in front of him, his ankles shackled, his head down.
    — Jennifer Gonnerman, The New Yorker, 27 Nov. 2023
  • No longer shackled, but still in limbo, and still without her son.
    — NBC News, 25 June 2018
  • Clooney is shackled in the back of a prison van, with Lopez sitting up front.
    — Patrick Radden Keefe, The New Yorker, 25 Dec. 2023
  • Over the course of four days, she was held captive, shackled, raped, and tortured.
    — Dana Hunsinger Benbow, Indianapolis Star, 18 June 2019
  • In a skit where a kid is shackled in a dungeon, he's warned not to mess with his shackles.
    — Stacey Grant, Seventeen, 10 Dec. 2018
  • The offense seemed to be shackled by the same issues that plagued them through their first two games.
    — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 22 Sep. 2025
  • Houdini said that no prison could hold him and that no shackles can shackle him.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 5 May 2022
  • The parents used chains and padlocks to shackle some of the children to beds.
    — Stella Chan and Ray Sanchez, CNN, 13 July 2022
  • In the van, Gray was handcuffed, shackled and not secured by a seat belt.
    — Ashley Parker and Justine McDaniel, Anchorage Daily News, 22 Feb. 2023
  • They were connected to the trellis by their wrists, which were shackled.
    — Claire Fahy, New York Times, 18 Nov. 2023
  • Soon, the 43-year-old was shackled and put on a bus to Bellevue.
    — Aimee Ortiz, New York Times, 7 Dec. 2023
  • Three men, hooded and shackled, were herded onto the stage.
    — Anand Gopal, New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2026
  • At one point, security agents brought in the body of a dead man with his hands shackled in front of his body.
    — ABC News, 27 Feb. 2026
  • The streamers have an algorithm that they’re shackled to.
    — Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 15 Feb. 2026
  • His arms were restrained to the bed and his feet were shackled together at the ankles.
    — Rick Jervis, USA Today, 27 Sep. 2025
  • And they will not be shackled to business models that see the purpose of medicine as making drugs.
    — The Economist, 12 Mar. 2020
  • He was dressed in orange coveralls and had his arms shackled at this waist with chains and padlocks.
    — David Owens, courant.com, 21 June 2018
  • Because the white prisoners were a threat to run, the guards would shackle them to each other.
    — Winfred Rembert, The New Yorker, 3 May 2021
  • Sometimes a player can be shackled just by the rules that come with [playing] the defense.
    — Jeff Zrebiec, baltimoresun.com, 16 May 2018
  • Her arms and legs were shackled and she was dressed in a blue one-piece uniform worn by inmates who are a suicide threat.
    — Fox News, 3 Aug. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shackle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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