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

A meetinghouse stood at the center of every village created by the Shakers, the separatist and celibate Christian religious sect founded in the 18th century that was devoted to communal living and simple, functional design.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 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

For her ambitious follow-up musical about the Shakers, Fastvold knew she needed Blumberg at the ground level, along with choreographer Celia Rowlson-Hall, a collaboration that required proximity.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 24, 2025

The Shakers had indeed left the land that would become Shaker Heights long before, and by the summer of 1997 there were exactly twelve left in the world.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng