View synonyms for

shrug off

verb

to minimize the importance of; dismiss
to get rid of
to wriggle out of or push off (clothing)

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Idioms and Phrases

Minimize the importance of, as in That nasty review didn't bother him at all; he just shrugged it off . [Early 1900s]

Get rid of, as in She managed to shrug off her drowsiness and keep driving . [Mid-1900s]

Wriggle out of a garment, as in He shrugged off his coat . [First half of 1900s]

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

After his fellow Oprah alum, Dr. Mehmet Oz, ran for the Senate last year, McGraw shrugged off the notion that he would ever follow suit, saying he “doesn’t know enough about it.”

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President Ronald Reagan famously talked about a “new day in America” as he encouraged the American people to shrug off their old cynicism and to embrace a new optimism.

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This is the same Musk who shrugged off reports that his cuts are killing people.

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Musk and Trump have both shrugged off any suggestion that his work with the government is conflicted or ethically problematic.

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But he also shrugged off the idea that that question has become a kind of purity test for filmmakers.

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shrug shrug one's shoulders

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