shut-in
Americanadjective
-
confined to one's home, a hospital, etc., as from illness.
-
Psychiatry. disposed to desire solitude; withdrawn; asocial.
-
(of an oil or gas well) temporarily sealed up.
noun
-
a person confined by infirmity or disease to the house, a hospital, etc.
-
Also called shut-in well. an oil or gas well that has been closed down.
noun
-
-
a person confined indoors by illness
-
( as modifier )
a shut-in patient
-
-
psychiatry a condition in which the person is highly withdrawn and unable to express his own feelings See also schizoid
Etymology
Origin of shut-in
1840–50, adj., noun use of verb phrase shut in
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This was predominantly due to a temporary shut-in caused by the conflict in the Middle East.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
Gen Z are often spoken about as the sober, shut-in generation.
From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2026
“This may be the case in particular with Saudi Arabia and UAE,” they said, noting the two countries had a combined 4 million barrels a day of liquids production shut-in in the Middle East.
From Barron's ● Apr. 9, 2026
Beyond the near-standstill of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, “every day of damaged or shut-in infrastructure pushes prewar production capacity further out of reach,” the analysts said.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 25, 2026
I have that late-shift shut-in feeling that there’s no world beyond the doors, no problem greater than the mystery items remaining at the bottom of my cart.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
