Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use shake in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Shake means to cause (something) to move rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly. Example: “The earthquake shook the building.”

Examples of shake by meaning

verbTo cause (something) to move rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly.

  • The earthquake shook the building.
  • He shook the can of soda for thirty seconds before delivering it to me, so that, when I popped it open, soda went everywhere.
  • She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.1963, Margery Allingham, “Meeting Point”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 232

verbTo move (one's head) from side to side, especially to indicate refusal, reluctance, or disapproval.

  • Shaking his head, he kept repeating “No, no, no”.

verbTo move or remove by agitating; to throw off by a jolting or vibrating motion.

  • to shake fruit down from a tree
  • The door finally shook free of its hinges.

verbTo disturb emotionally; to shock.

  • Her father’s death shook her terribly.
  • He was shaken by what had happened.

verbTo lose, evade, or get rid of (something).

  • I can’t shake the feeling that I forgot something.
  • Nothing could shake his faith.

verbTo move from side to side.

  • She shook with grief.
  • He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

verbTo shake hands.

  • OK, let’s shake on it.

verbTo dance.

  • She was shaking it on the dance floor.

More sentences with shake

  • Shake the test tube well, and the liquid should slowly clear.From the entry clear
  • Earthquakes and convulsions of nature shake Earth on a regular basis.From the entry convulsion
  • The two players refused to shake hands — there's a bit of previous there.From the entry previous
  • I'll bring the contract tomorrow, and if everything looks good, we'll shake on it.From the entry shake on it
  • If I don't get a drink soon, I'll get the shakes.From the entry shakes
  • If you shake up a can of cola and then open it, you get an explosion.From the entry shake up
  • The new boss is going to shake things up, so be aware.From the entry shake up
  • I'd like two burgers, two small orders of fries and two shakes, to go.From the entry to go
  • He shook my hand slackly. It was like shaking a dead fish.From the entry slackly
  • The police are chasing us! Quick, turn into that side street! We've got to shake them off.From the entry shake off
  • As a campaigning politician, he really knew how to shake hands, kiss babies, and work the room.From the entry work the room
  • The sekere may be twisted, shaken or slapped to produce a subtle variety of effects.From the entry sekere
  • Always shake hands at a job interview, but try not to overshake.From the entry overshake
  • They're charging only X dollars for Y right now. You can't shake a stick at that.From the entry shake a stick at
  • A mother’s love is not easily shaken.From the entry love
  • The earthquake led to many shaken buildings and structures.From the entry shaken
  • We were left shaken by the revelations of abuse.From the entry shaken
  • It's good to have a firm grip when shaking hands.From the entry grip
  • The farce that we saw last night had us laughing and shaking our heads at the same time.From the entry farce
  • The main character in the play was a bit of an outlaw who refused to shake hands or say thank you.From the entry outlaw
  • Shake a leg! We haven't got all day.From the entry shake a leg
  • More profoundly, it has shaken our most fundamental assumptions.From the entry profoundly
  • We all missed the imperceptible shake of his head as he tried to warn us without being seen.From the entry imperceptible
  • I just can't shake off this cold.From the entry shake off
  • We are curious to see how this all shakes out.From the entry shake out
  • They have her training new hires pretty heavily, and the rampant skill issues are shaking her faith in the educational system.From the entry skill issue

Meaning of shake

  1. verb To cause (something) to move rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly.
  2. verb To move (one's head) from side to side, especially to indicate refusal, reluctance, or disapproval.
  3. verb To move or remove by agitating; to throw off by a jolting or vibrating motion.

Full definition of shake

Questions about shake in a sentence

How do you use shake in a sentence?
Shake is used as a verb and noun. For example: “The earthquake shook the building.”
What is a short sentence with shake?
“She shook with grief.”
What does shake mean?
Shake means to cause (something) to move rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shake (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use shake in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/shake. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.