How to Use shrug in a Sentence

shrug

1 of 2 verb
  • I asked if he wanted to go out to dinner, and he just shrugged.
  • He just shrugged his shoulders.
  • Oil surged, gold rose — and stocks shrugged.
    — John Towfighi, CNN Money, 3 Mar. 2026
  • My boyfriend heard it too but shrugged it off.
    — R. Eric Thomas, Denver Post, 14 Mar. 2026
  • Dalt says, to which Homer shrugs and nods.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 12 Apr. 2026
  • Plyler shrugged at such a question.
    — Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 4 Feb. 2026
  • Griffler shrugged and took a bite of a bagel.
    — Burkhard Bilger, New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2026
  • Schiliro looked around for help, but his colleagues just shrugged.
    — Literary Hub, 23 Mar. 2026
  • Still, this doesn't mean that people should shrug and give up.
    — Cathleen O'Grady, Ars Technica, 28 May 2020
  • Many just shrug their shoulders, and say, so what, who cares?
    — Steve H. Hanke, Fortune, 14 May 2026
  • Lusti, her hair frozen to the sides of her face, lays out the stakes and then shrugs.
    — Frederick Dreier, Outside, 12 Dec. 2025
  • Reigns shrugged his shoulders and gave Fatu the green light.
    — Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 16 June 2026
  • And yet, investors are shrugging it all off.
    — Maria Aspan, NPR, 14 Aug. 2025
  • But at least a few others shrugged it off as a smart business move.
    — Victor Mather, New York Times, 22 Nov. 2023
  • The camera then panned to the actress, who smirked and shrugged.
    — Jolene Latimer, Peoplemag, 20 Apr. 2023
  • The shop can no longer shrug and say the algorithm is colour-blind.
    — Dara-Abasi Ita, Forbes.com, 10 June 2026
  • Warwick shrugged and pecked at his laptop.
    — Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 21 Jan. 2026
  • A lot of teams start 2-0 and don’t even shrug their shoulders.
    — Tyler Palmateer, Nashville Tennessean, 30 Aug. 2025
  • When the doctor shrugs a little.
    — Literary Hub, 29 Apr. 2026
  • Safety Jay Ward glances over and shrugs.
    — Alec Lewis, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
  • And Jenny turned to me, smiled and shrugged, as if to say, case closed.
    — Robert Kolker, New York Times, 20 July 2023
  • The camera pans to Spielberg who just shrugs it off.
    — Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 15 Mar. 2026
  • Travis shrugs it off, saying that everyone has a role to play.
    — Radhika Menon, ELLE, 30 Mar. 2023
  • Don’t shrug it off, saying this is for others to worry about.
    — Ken Silverstein, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2024
  • Bob Harper, former host of the show, shrugged.
    — Virgie Tovar, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2025
  • Those who don’t like the Olympics, shrug it off as unimportant.
    — Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 June 2021
  • Almost no one shrugs if off as a nonissue.
    — Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 14 Feb. 2026
  • Putin pantomimed not being able to hear the question and shrugged.
    — Susan B. Glasser, New Yorker, 15 Aug. 2025
  • Most people, if asked what their belly button is for, would shrug.
    — Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 11 June 2026
  • Roark’s mostly shrugged this all off, a couple of weeks later.
    — Luca Evans, Denver Post, 15 Jan. 2026

shrug

2 of 2 noun
  • Kate topped the look off with a fuzzy white shrug.
    — Nicole Briese, PEOPLE, 29 Apr. 2026
  • For all the buildup, this may be less a showdown than a shrug-off.
    — Ana Gutierrez, Austin American Statesman, 4 Feb. 2026
  • Matthew doesn’t speak but can grimace, shrug, grunt, nod, or frown.
    — Weike Wang, The New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2022
  • The shrug and hand gesture at the end became his thing.
    — Kimberly Wilson, Essence, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Ike demonstrates with the most cringey of shoulder shrugs.
    — Amanda Champagne-Meadows, Deadline, 26 Apr. 2026
  • As young fans gripped their face in agony, the older faces held their palms up in knowing shrugs.
    — Beren Cross, New York Times, 6 Apr. 2026
  • Why did Apple's blowout earnings get a shrug?
    — Alexei Oreskovic, Fortune, 30 Jan. 2026
  • And too often, the honest answer is a shrug.
    — Douglas Gregory, Forbes.com, 22 May 2026
  • So much so that all attempts to reboot it have been met with shoulder shrugs – bar one show.
    — Sergio Pereira, Space.com, 10 June 2026
  • With a kind of funny shrug, Bona walks on stage with his bass guitar strapped across his body.
    — Literary Hub, 9 Mar. 2026
  • For YouTube, the loss could be written off with a shoulder shrug.
    — Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 3 Oct. 2025
  • And there is something about this shrug that feels oddly true to La Fontaine.
    — Jan Steyn, The Dial, 10 Mar. 2026
  • Her second look featured a strapless satin gown with a matching shrug.
    — Christina Perrier, InStyle, 12 Mar. 2026
  • That shrug is exactly the problem.
    — Aron Solomon september 3, Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2025
  • The mice greet this with a shrug, mouth vague platitudes, and go on the talk-show circuit anyway.
    — Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2023
  • There are tube tops with her classic open seams, a curve-hugging sheer maxi dress, and a saucy midriff-baring shrug.
    — Liana Satenstein, Vogue, 30 July 2021
  • Pair it with a shrug or blazer for the cooler nights, or wear it on its own for a casual sunny day.
    — Nicole Pyles, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 May 2026
  • Lee unfazed by Draymond Green’s barb A shrug.
    — Roderick Boone, Charlotte Observer, 21 Jan. 2026
  • The only thing missing was a patented Jordan shrug.
    — Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 29 Mar. 2026
  • For her part Zoe, mature well beyond her tender age, dismisses the hype with a shrug.
    — Los Angeles Times, 30 May 2026
  • These casualties weren’t met with the shrug that traffic deaths often receive now.
    — Ariane Lange, Sacbee.com, 13 Nov. 2025
  • Gates, no relation to Antonio, offers a shrug and a smirk.
    — Kirk Kenney, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Mar. 2026
  • For most people, the inconvenience of paying for a parking stall ends with a shrug of defeat.
    — Matthew Kayser, USA Today, 12 Nov. 2025
  • And Bo Nix will get shrugs as nothing more than a valet for a legendary coach and fangs-bearing defense.
    — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 20 Dec. 2025
  • The last edition of the Toronto Film Festival came and went with a shrug.
    — Brent Lang, Variety, 3 Sep. 2025
  • The stock market, however, responded with a shrug.
    — Max Zahn, ABC News, 29 Apr. 2026
  • Meghan gave a theatrical, bemused shrug before returning to eating a piece of pie.
    — Jack Royston, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Nov. 2025
  • But his uppercase blasts, chest-thumping rants and coarse insults are more likely now to draw a Gallic shrug.
    — Serge Schmemann, Mercury News, 14 Apr. 2026
  • And even a modest OPEC+ output hike landed with a shrug.
    — Anniek Bao, CNBC, 4 May 2026
  • The young biker leans back and smiles at Gately and gives an affable shrug and blatts away, a halter top’s tits mashed against his back.
    — Hermione Hoby, New Yorker, 26 Jan. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shrug.' 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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