shirk

verb

ˈshərk 

shirked; shirking; shirks

intransitive verb

1

: to go stealthily : sneak

2

: to evade the performance of an obligation

transitive verb

: avoid, evade

shirk one's duty

shirker noun

Synonyms

• avoid
• dodge
• duck
• elude
• escape
• eschew
• evade
• finesse
• get around
• scape
• shake
• shuffle (out of)
• shun
• weasel (out of)

Examples of shirk in a Sentence

He's too conscientious to shirk his duty.

He never shirked from doing his duty.

They did their duty without shirking or complaining.

Recent Examples on the Web

In others, municipalities shirked their legal requirement to share permit data with Kaegi’s office or shared it in a format that required time-consuming cleanup. —A.d. Quig, Chicago Tribune, 16 Mar. 2025

Here are some of the most notable categories: Foreign policy Trump's foreign policy approach in his early days in office centered around tariff threats, shirking international agreements and bringing much foreign aid to a halt. —Avery Lotz, Axios, 11 Feb. 2025

Meanwhile, lawsuits filed by people living in Kushner buildings have exposed how the company operated, often by shirking on maintenance in order to force out tenants. —Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 22 Jan. 2025

The authors are hoping to make Meta pay after Meta allegedly shirked offers to license their data for a fee. —Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 12 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

origin unknown

First Known Use

1681, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Rhymes for shirk

• berk
• birk
• cirque
• clerk
• dirk
• erk
• irk
• jerk
• kirk
• lurk
• merc
• merch

Kids Definition

shirk

verb

ˈshərk 

: to get out of doing especially what one ought to do

: avoid sense 3, evade

shirked their duty

shirker noun