shrug off
Britishverb
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to minimize the importance of; dismiss
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to get rid of
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to wriggle out of or push off (clothing)
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Minimize the importance of, as in That nasty review didn't bother him at all; he just shrugged it off . [Early 1900s]
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Get rid of, as in She managed to shrug off her drowsiness and keep driving . [Mid-1900s]
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Wriggle out of a garment, as in He shrugged off his coat . [First half of 1900s]
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.
Some investors shrug off the measure, arguing it isn’t very useful to compare the fixed return of a bond with the potentially unlimited upside of a company’s earnings growth.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 26, 2026
Retired couple Christine and Cliff Hill shrug off the complaints of younger generations.
From BBC • May 12, 2026
The stock market has tended to shrug off other military eruptions over the following years, even when share prices fell sharply upon the outbreak of hostilities.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 10, 2026
The Proteas in June 2025 beat Australia in the World Test Championship final to win their first major International Cricket Council trophy and shrug off their "chokers" tag.
From Barron's • Feb. 8, 2026
I tried to shrug off a dark feeling I was getting and recapture the warm sense of justice: Sarah and Daniel, earless too.
From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen
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.
