Shakers

British  

/ ˈʃeɪkəz /

plural noun

1. an American millenarian sect, founded in 1747 as an offshoot of the Quakers, given to ecstatic shaking, advocating celibacy for its members, and practising common ownership of property

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Shakers Cultural  

1. A religious group that rose in America in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Shakers derived their name from a dance that was part of their religious ceremony. They lived in small, tightly knit communities and observed celibacy.

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Shaker furniture is renowned for its simplicity, strength, and beauty.

Example Sentences

The Shakers, with their signature spare style, have had an outsize impact on material culture, considering their numbers—a peak estimated at 6,000 members in the mid-19th century—and segregation from the world.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026

Then it would probably be breakfast at Shakers, which is in South Pasadena.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 27, 2026

Intricate group choreography finds the Shakers swaying and stretching in tandem as if their hands were reaching up to pull God closer to Earth — or the congregation closer to Heaven.

From Salon • Dec. 27, 2025

They also exhibit a rare respect for women, believing that “God must be both male and female,” and are a precursor to the group Ann herself will come to lead, known simply as the Shakers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 24, 2025

New religious faiths sprung from the state’s rich soil: Shakers, Mormons, and Adventists, among others.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock