as in harridan
a bad-tempered scolding woman
Rip Van Winkle went off into the mountains to escape his wife, a shrew who made his life miserable
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Examples Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of shrew
Other notable characters include Mama and Papa Puffin, Oona’s best friend Mossy (a brown Eurasian Pygmy shrew) and friends like May (a rabbit) and Silky (a harbor seal).
—
Jessica Booth, Peoplemag, 19 May 2024
They were likely excavated by shrews, Scofield says.
—Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 29 Apr. 2024
By selecting mammals as their theme, the filmmakers of the BBC’s Natural History Unit (NHU) have rich pickings, from the largest animal on Earth, the blue whale, to the tiny Etruscan shrew.
—Graeme Green, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Apr. 2024
The shrews must consume a hefty meal every few hours, lest the animals starve.
—Max Bennett, Discover Magazine, 8 Feb. 2024
See all Example Sentences for shrew 
Jessica Booth, Peoplemag, 19 May 2024
They were likely excavated by shrews, Scofield says.
—Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 29 Apr. 2024
By selecting mammals as their theme, the filmmakers of the BBC’s Natural History Unit (NHU) have rich pickings, from the largest animal on Earth, the blue whale, to the tiny Etruscan shrew.
—Graeme Green, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Apr. 2024
The shrews must consume a hefty meal every few hours, lest the animals starve.
—Max Bennett, Discover Magazine, 8 Feb. 2024
See all Example Sentences for shrew
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shrew
Noun
-
The subtext throughout is that Tendler is a harridan, a domineering scold.Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 16 Aug. 2024
-
And Day, with a face of expressive misery and the energy of an imploding firecracker, portrays her as a shrewd fusion of harridan and victim.Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 16 Aug. 2024
Noun
-
But the film belongs to Moreno, clearly relishing the chance to play an unapologetic termagant.David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Mar. 2022
-
Rita may be a bossy termagant, but her adoring Beppe appears to love being whacked around from time to time, so what’s the harm?John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, 15 Apr. 2018
Noun
-
With his entourage of ballers and video vixens, his retinue of security, his talent for curation, Puff was the ringmaster of relevancy, the pied piper of fun and the force at the very center of cultural power.Amy DuBois Barnett, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Oct. 2024
-
At a baseline, video vixens confirmed that Black women deserve all of the episodic things shown in the music videos.Raquel Reichard, refinery29.com, 24 Sep. 2024
Noun
-
For those guys, mothers are either harpies or sirens—villains or traps.Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 2 May 2024
-
This is her name for the seventh circle of hell from Dante’s Inferno, where the souls of those who’ve committed suicide become trees, and harpies peck at them for all eternity.Sara Holdren, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2023
Noun
-
Gaming is also widely looked down upon (critic Roger Ebert famously declared video games can never be art) as cheap, hyperviolent, and mindless entertainment today.Barry Levitt, TIME, 17 Jan. 2025
-
Still, critics wondered if the state should focus on space tourism, especially given the potential costs, possibly on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars.Ars Technica, Ars Technica, 17 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
Skin is important here, not just its color but its texture as Josephine, for example, goes from elegant sophisticate to sweaty, sunburned, frizzy virago increasingly swollen with pregnancy and angry mosquito bites.Jessica Kiang, Variety, 25 Aug. 2023
-
Meredith is a stereotypical virago updated with modern libertarian notions.Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 5 July 2023
Noun
-
In recent years, officials have endured public fury while dining out in the district.Korsha Wilson, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2025
-
And yes, mashing the pedal to the firewall will summon the whole powertrain’s fury in a pinch … but that defeats the purpose of trying to go green.Will Sabel Courtney, Robb Report, 16 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near shrew
Cite this Entry
“Shrew.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shrew. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share