: an act or instance of shaking up
specifically
: an extensive and often drastic reorganization
shook up; shaken up; shaking up; shakes up
2
: to jar by or as if by a physical shock
the collision shook up both drivers
3
: to effect an extensive and often drastic reorganization of
Examples of shake-up in a Sentence
Verb
the news that we had failed the auto inspection shook us up
Recent Examples on the Web
Julian Chokkattu, Wired News, 29 Mar. 2025
Secretary Kennedy’s announcement of a shake-up at the Department of Health and Human Services spotlights the need for major reform at the bloated agency.
—Ryan Long, National Review, 28 Mar. 2025
Angela Andaloro, People.com, 28 Mar. 2025
There have been efforts to shake up the primary care market, perhaps most notably One Medical, which charges members $199 a year, and was acquired by Amazon for $3.9 billion two years ago.
—Amy Feldman, Forbes.com, 27 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shake-up
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Noun
Photograph: Google; Getty Images Google is giving its smart-home range a shake-up, and is discontinuing two of its products to replace them with third-party collaborations.
—Julian Chokkattu, Wired News, 29 Mar. 2025
Secretary Kennedy’s announcement of a shake-up at the Department of Health and Human Services spotlights the need for major reform at the bloated agency.
—Ryan Long, National Review, 28 Mar. 2025
Verb
Toy Story saw a happy-go-lucky cowboy figurine named Woody (Tom Hanks) have his world shaken up when his owner Andy (John Morris) received a cool, brand new action figure by the name of Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen).
—Angela Andaloro, People.com, 28 Mar. 2025
There have been efforts to shake up the primary care market, perhaps most notably One Medical, which charges members $199 a year, and was acquired by Amazon for $3.9 billion two years ago.
—Amy Feldman, Forbes.com, 27 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shake-up
Cite this Entry
“Shake-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shake-up. Accessed 2 Apr. 2025.
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