MEANING
To evade work, duty, or responsibility that one should undertake.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- shirk one's duties
- shirk responsibility
On the page
She accused the board of shirking its responsibility.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- shirk
- Past tense
- shirked
- Past participle
- shirked
- Present participle
- shirking
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- shirk
- Present continuous
- am/is/are shirking
- Present perfect
- have/has shirked
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been shirking
- Past
- shirked
- Past continuous
- was/were shirking
- Past perfect
- had shirked
- Past perfect continuous
- had been shirking
- Future
- will shirk
- Future continuous
- will be shirking
- Future perfect
- will have shirked
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been shirking
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: shirk; shirks; shirked; shirked; shirking Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: shirks.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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