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• shore
  shore

  noun

  the land along the edge of a sea, lake, broad river, etc.
• Shore
  Shore

  noun

  Jane, 1445?–1527, mistress of Edward IV of England.

shore

¹ American  

[shawr, shohr] / ʃɔr, ʃoʊr /

noun

1. the land along the edge of a sea, lake, broad river, etc.

   Synonyms:

   margin, strand

2. some particular country.

   my native shore.

3. land, as opposed to sea or water.

   a marine serving on shore.

4. Law. the space between the ordinary high-water and low-water mark.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or located on land, especially land along the edge of a body of water.

   a marine on shore duty.

shore ² American  

[shawr, shohr] / ʃɔr, ʃoʊr /

noun

1. a supporting post or beam with auxiliary members, especially one placed obliquely against the side of a building, a ship in drydock, or the like; prop; strut.

   Synonyms:

   stay, buttress, brace

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verb (used with object)

shored, shoring

1. to support by or as if by a shore or shores; prop (usually followed byup ).

   to shore up a roof; government subsidies to shore up falling corn prices.

shore ³ American  

[shawr, shohr] / ʃɔr, ʃoʊr /

verb (used with object)

Scot. and North England.

shored, shoring

1. to threaten (someone).

2. to offer or proffer (something).

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Shore ⁴ American  

[shawr, shohr] / ʃɔr, ʃoʊr /

noun

1. Jane, 1445?–1527, mistress of Edward IV of England.

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shore ¹ British  

/ ʃɔː /

noun

1. the land along the edge of a sea, lake, or wide river

2. 1. land, as opposed to water (esp in the phrase on shore )

   2. ( as modifier )

      shore duty

3. law the tract of coastland lying between the ordinary marks of high and low water

4. (often plural) a country

   his native shores

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verb

1. (tr) to move or drag (a boat) onto a shore

shore ² British  

/ ʃɔː /

noun

1. a prop, post, or beam used to support a wall, building, ship in dry dock, etc

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verb

1. to prop or make safe with or as if with a shore

shore ³ British  

/ ʃɔː /

verb

1. a past tense of shear

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Usage

What is a basic definition of shore? A shore is land that is located along the edge of a body of water. Shore can also be used more generally to mean any land or a particular country. As a verb, shore means to support something. If a certain area of land touches or runs alongside a body of water, it is a shore. For example, a fisherman would stand at a river’s shore while fishing in it. A shore is similar to a coast or a beach. A coast is a shore that specifically meets the ocean. A beach is a part of a shore covered in sand and pebbles.

• Real-life examples: Boats are docked along shores. Many shores have beautiful, sandy beaches. MTV once filmed an infamous reality show on the shore of New Jersey.
• Used in a sentence: Eve liked to watch the deer relax along the shore of the lake. 

Shore is also used generally to mean any land. This sense is often used as a contrast to water, such as when talking about sailing or boating.

• Used in a sentence: When I was in the Coast Guard, I didn’t spend much time on shore.

Shore can also mean a country.

• Used in a sentence: I want to return to my native shore of Wales. 

As a verb, shore means to support or to bolster. In this sense, it is often followed by the word up.

• Real-life examples: A builder might shore up a roof with several posts. You might shore up your essay with quotes from the research you did. A government can shore up the solar energy industry by giving solar panel manufacturers tax breaks.
• Used in a sentence: The president planned to shore up the economy by giving aid to small businesses. 

Related to this sense, shore is used as a noun to mean a beam or post that acts as a support.

• Used in a sentence: We used steel shores to keep the side wall from falling down. 

Synonym Usage

Shore, bank, beach, coast refer to an edge of land abutting on an ocean, lake, or other large body of water. Shore is the general word: The ship reached shore. Bank denotes the land along a river or other watercourse, sometimes steep but often not: The river flows between its banks. Beach refers to sandy or pebbly margins along a shore, especially those made wider at ebb tide: a private beach for bathers. Coast applies only to land along an ocean: the Pacific coast.

Other Word Forms

• shoring
  noun

Etymology

Origin of shore¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English score, Old English scora (recorded only in place names); cognate with Middle Dutch, Middle Low German schore; perhaps akin to shear

Origin of shore²

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English noun shore, score; cognate with Middle Low German, Middle Dutch schore “prop”; the verb is derivative of the noun

Origin of shore³

First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English ( Scots ) schore, of uncertain origin and meaning

Explanation

The land right at the edge of a lake, river, or ocean is called the shore. Even the bravest swimmers will head for the shore when they hear someone yell "Shark!" The verb shore means "prop up or support," so you might shore up a house that's tilting on its foundation or shore up a failing company with an investment of money. The water's-edge shore has a Germanic root that means "cut," and experts believe that the noun shore grew either from a sense of "division between land and water," or possibly "land cut off from the mainland by marshes."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shore Shore shored shoring

In some local scenarios, the first waves could reach shore in under 10 minutes.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026

Rubio visits Quito as the second stop on a three-nation tour designed to shore up conservative allies in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, and bolster US influence across the continent.

From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026

Resilience in exports could also reduce the urgency for Beijing to shore up weaker parts of the economy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

Mayor Bass was front and center behind the banner of the shore workers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026

Jonathan swam toward shore, trying to establish a kicking rhythm that would keep him moving but not exhaust him.

From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret

Council officers have been out visiting premises in the area to explain how the More by the Shore campaign , externalwill work and listen to feedback.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

The accents there are as apt to hail from the South Shore of Long Island as from South Carolina.

From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026

Business has been humming along, Brian Keeler at renovation company West Shore Homes told MarketWatch.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 2026

Shore excursions include bespoke tours of local pubs in Prague and nighttime city treks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

Someday, she was going to cost Eastern Shore plantation owners a huge amount of money by guiding three hundred of their runaway slaves to freedom.

From "Kindred" by Octavia Butler

They’d loved hiking the Great Wall of China and participating in 150-mile bike rides, and had shored up their finances to retire early.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026

The Dodgers shored up the bullpen over the winter, signing three-time all-star Edwin Díaz to a three-year, $69-million contract.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2026

Surprisingly resilient consumer spending shored up an uncertain economic backdrop.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025

By borrowing to spend, the chancellor and prime minister have shored up their immediate position in parliament and it appears to put to bed the shocking doubts about passing their budgets.

From BBC ● Nov. 26, 2025

Support struts shored up the wooden ceiling and stones embedded in the dirt floor made her stumble.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

Meanwhile, Iran’s central bank governor, Abdolnaser Hemmati, said the U.S. had already done all that it can against Iran and that the central bank had been shoring up its foreign currency reserves for months.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

Born in Jakarta in 1963, Destry holds degrees from the University of Indonesia and Cornell University, and is expected to maintain a balance between shoring up growth and keeping the rupiah stable.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

As the company worked on shoring up its manufacturing capacity, a cultural shift was under way that neither Novo nor Lilly predicted.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026

Since that shock, some companies have taken steps to reduce their exposure by shoring up alternative logistic routes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

Foremole and his team knew all there was to know about the diggings: depth, approximate dimensions, the placement of shoring, even where the first rat’s head was likely to break ground.

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques

Related Words

• bank
• beach
• border
• coast
• riverbank
• sand
• seaboard
• seashore
• waterfront