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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

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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

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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

But in mid-July, Jackie was found weak, disheveled and unable to fly on the north shore of the lake after a scuffle with two younger eagles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2026

First, businesses can advocate for increased Perkins V resources federally, while pushing state and local policymakers to shore up additional program funding.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 9, 2026

A forced slowdown on AI spending could prove beneficial for the hyperscalers and enable them to shore up their balance sheets.

From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026

In the Philippines' Batanes archipelago, seaside highways shut as huge waves crashed onto the shore, and in southern Japan's Okinawa islands, power was cut to 15,000 homes.

From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026

This morning the crappies were best in close to shore and we caught seven or eight good ones by hanging right on the edge of the lily pads and casting out to the deeper side.

From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen

Golf legend Tiger Woods is heading up a new private golf destination on the North Shore of Long Island in Brookville, N.Y.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 11, 2026

Hermès executives theorized that North Shore shoppers might like having a store closer to them, the kind of place they could stop by while walking the dog or in between errands.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

After successfully climbing over some large rocks and a fence, Bellin made her way to the East Shore Bike Trail and walked barefoot and injured back to the beach.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

Visible everywhere in Pattaya were the men wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the letters SLG, or Shore Liaison Group.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

On several occasions she had seen runaways who came from the Eastern Shore.

From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry

Raman entered the race as a long-shot candidate but slowly shored up support, especially from younger voters, before besting reality star Spencer Pratt in the primary race earlier this year.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

In fact, Zhu shored up state power instead of letting it go but the comparison rang true in one respect: Like the Soviet leader, Zhu often won more accolades overseas than at home.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

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

They sleep in a once stately Old World suite with the furniture shored up against the walls and chicken feathers clogging the marble sinks and newspapers tacked clumsily across the windows.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

In a statement released after her election victory, the Police Protective League’s board of directors said it shares a common goal with Raman of shoring up the department’s recruitment of new officers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2026

The non-binding "35 by 35" target is key to a 10-point Action Agenda that Turkey says will speed up the shift to renewables while shoring up energy security.

From Barron's ● Nov. 8, 2026

Bulldozers have been shoring up the beach to try and prevent further flooding.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

Google’s artificial-intelligence research unit is set to release a new model with significantly upgraded coding capabilities, according to employees, potentially shoring up an area where the company has lagged behind competitors OpenAI and Anthropic.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

Ambrose Spike had reported some minor splintering at the top inside edges of the door, but the shoring of earthworks was holding out.

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques

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Related Words

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