Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense shrugs, present participle shrugging, past tense, past participle shrugged
verb
If you shrug, you raise your shoulders to show that you are not interested in something or that you do not know or care about something.
I shrugged, as if to say, 'Why not?' [VERB]
The man shrugged his shoulders. [VERB noun]
Shrug is also a noun.
'I suppose so,' said Anna with a shrug.
Phrasal verbs:
See shrug off
shrug in British English
(ʃrʌɡ)
verbWord forms: shrugs, shrugging or shrugged
1.
to draw up and drop (the shoulders) abruptly in a gesture expressing indifference, contempt, ignorance, etc
noun
2.
the gesture so made
3.
a woman's short jacket or close-fitting cardigan
Word origin
C14: of uncertain origin
shrug in American English
(ʃrʌg)
verb transitive, verb intransitiveWord forms: shrugged or ˈshrugging
1.
to draw up (the shoulders), as in expressing indifference, doubt, disdain, contempt, etc.
noun
2.
the gesture so made
3.
a woman's short jacket or sweater with wide, loose sleeves
Idioms:
shrug off
Word origin
ME schruggen, orig., to shiver (as with cold)
Examples of 'shrug' in a sentence
shrug
Your manager should not have simply shrugged off your complaint.
The Sun (2014)
Who just shrugs and gets on with it.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The man shrugged when asked about the family who only a week ago ran a thriving business.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
He simply shrugs and shakes his head.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
The little man shrugged and the men walked out of the house.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
He alleges the man just shrugged and walked away.
The Sun (2011)
My mum just shrugged her shoulders.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
You can't simply shrug and just get on with your life.
The Sun (2014)
Yet most people just shrug and observe that it's always been that way.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
They simply shrug and tell us that what could be moved has already been moved to Damascus.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
He has turned and just shrugs his arms up, as if to say who knows?
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
West shrugged like a man who didn't really know what was expected of him.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Piers gets booed, at which he simply shrugs.
The Sun (2008)
It has emerged that when the president asked how she was, she did not answer but simply shrugged.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Not yet, says his shrug.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Those who quiz the chief executive on the anaemic performance find a man willing to shrug his shoulders and admit that results have not been good enough.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
No matter how fast you try to go round a corner, it simply shrugs its shoulders and drums its fingers and obliges.
The Sun (2014)
I've tried to talk to him about things but he just shrugs his shoulders.
The Sun (2013)
When I asked him about it he simply shrugged his shoulders in a gesture of resignation.
Stewart, Bob (Lt-Col) Broken Lives (1993)
You don't just shrug off 30 years.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
This, he shrugs, is just the way it is.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
The Bank just about shrugged off suggestions that it turned a blind eye to Libor manipulation.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Word lists with
shrug
jacket
In other languages
shrug
British English: shrug /ʃrʌɡ/ VERB
If you shrug, you raise your shoulders to show that you are not interested in something or that you do not know or care about something.