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Synonyms

shake-out

British  

noun

  1. the process of reducing the number of people in a workforce in order to lower the costs of a company

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

I think the resentment in this country is also building to the boiling point, and it’s hard to predict how this will all shake-out.

From Salon • Jul. 18, 2024

As well as all the shop closures, there's also been a shake-out in the casual-dining sector with Prezzo, Jamie's Italian, and Byron all closing restaurants.

From BBC • Dec. 2, 2018

There will be a clear shake-out in terms of what non-NFL athletes get paid.

From New York Times • Apr. 26, 2017

Here was Strasburg’s grimace, the pummeling of his own glove, and the shake-out of his arm that, to baseball players, almost always means the lousiest of things.

From Washington Post • Sep. 7, 2016

You know about Owthwaite's: how the recent shake-out of the market threatened their collapse, like so many others'.

From The Lord of the Sea by Shiel, M. P. (Matthew Phipps)

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.