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
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of shrew
For the study, researchers looked at 1,376 vertebrate species known to eat some amount of carrion, ranging from tiger sharks and spotted hyenas to cane toads and common shrews.
—
Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 June 2025
Leaf litter hosts life for hundreds of species: bacteria, ants, mushrooms, shrews.
—Marion Renault, The Atlantic, 13 May 2025
The music hall performer Belle Elmore was dismissed by the press as a vulgar shrew.
—Jennifer Wright, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2025
While native mammals span from the endemic Cretan lesser white-toothed shrew to the Blasius’s horseshoe bat, the preserve is perhaps best known for its high concentration of Cretan goats, a type of ruminant that serves as the official mascot of the park.
—Jared Ranahan, Forbes, 3 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shrew
Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 June 2025
Leaf litter hosts life for hundreds of species: bacteria, ants, mushrooms, shrews.
—Marion Renault, The Atlantic, 13 May 2025
The music hall performer Belle Elmore was dismissed by the press as a vulgar shrew.
—Jennifer Wright, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2025
While native mammals span from the endemic Cretan lesser white-toothed shrew to the Blasius’s horseshoe bat, the preserve is perhaps best known for its high concentration of Cretan goats, a type of ruminant that serves as the official mascot of the park.
—Jared Ranahan, Forbes, 3 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shrew
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shrew
Noun
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Given its plotting, Brooks’s movie could easily have made Iris into a harridan and Isaac into a sociopathic rogue.—
Graham Hillard,
The Washington Examiner,
15 Aug. 2025
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As written, and as played quite winningly by Siff, Silverman’s Tekla is neither a kitten nor a harridan.—
Jesse Green,
New York Times,
19 May 2025
Noun
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But the film belongs to Moreno, clearly relishing the chance to play an unapologetic termagant.—
David Rooney,
The Hollywood Reporter,
13 Mar. 2022
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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
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Some say she’s got the video vixen allure that would fit her seamlessly into the era over two decades later.—
Essence,
Essence,
6 Aug. 2025
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Today’s Wordle Etymology The word vixen comes from Middle English fixen, a southern dialectal form of fox with a feminine suffix -en (similar to how ox → oxen for plural).—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
12 June 2025
Noun
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Think a front desk hewn from Dionysos marble and sconces in the shape of harpies.—
Sam Cochran,
Architectural Digest,
11 Aug. 2025
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For those guys, mothers are either harpies or sirens—villains or traps.—
Helen Shaw,
The New Yorker,
2 May 2024
Noun
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An anime about a teenager avenging the deaths of his family at the hands of hordes of carnivorous demons wouldn’t usually be the sort of film which would be met with unanimous praise from critics.—
Caroline Reid,
Forbes.com,
14 Sep. 2025
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The Republican and Democratic heads of a US congressional committee for strategic competition with China in July stressed their strong support for AUKUS, amid the review of the deal by Elbridge Colby, a top Pentagon policy official and public critic of the pact.—
CNN Money,
CNN Money,
14 Sep. 2025
Noun
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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
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Meredith is a stereotypical virago updated with modern libertarian notions.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
5 July 2023
Noun
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Fenerbahce reserve their primary fury for Galatasaray, but the feeling is pretty mutual.—
Tim Spiers,
New York Times,
15 Sep. 2025
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South Korea’s top diplomat then rushed to Washington to negotiate their release, while public fury swelled back home over what many see as a slap in the face from their longtime ally.—
Alexandra Banner,
CNN Money,
12 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Shrew.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shrew. Accessed 21 Sep. 2025.
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