Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use shave in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Shave means to make (the head, skin etc.) bald or (the hair) shorter by using a tool such as a razor or electric clippers to cut the hair close to the skin. Example: “I had little time to shave this morning.”

Examples of shave by meaning

verbTo remove hair from one's face by this means.

  • I had little time to shave this morning.

verbTo reduce in size, weight, time taken etc., usually by a small amount.

  • Kingsman’s two-hour 20-minute running time could have been shaved by around a fifth, without losing a great deal.2017 September 19, Gwilym Mumford, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle review – spy sequel reaches new heights of skyscraping silliness”, in the...

nounAn instance of shaving.

  • I instructed the barber to give me a shave.

More sentences with shave

  • After ten days of hiking, I needed a shower and a shave.From the entry need
  • The decision to shave or not is a somewhat personal one.From the entry somewhat
  • He used a new razor blade for a good close shave.From the entry close shave
  • As the old song goes, shave and a haircut, two bits!From the entry two bits
  • That was back in the days of the two-bit shave and haircut.From the entry two-bit
  • He took so long to shave his head that we arrived 45 minutes after curtain and were denied late entry.From the entry curtain
  • He doesn't like to shave against the grain.From the entry grain
  • The nomads shave intricate designs into their camels' fur.From the entry into
  • One should strop the razor before each shave.From the entry strop
  • Twenty quid for a shave? That's a bit steep.From the entry steep
  • Switch to Acme brand razors for a closer shave! For a limited time, we'll pay you to be a switcher!From the entry switcher
  • After several days in the bush, he had grown lax with his barbering and needed a good shave before he was presentable again.From the entry barbering
  • I had a close shave with somebody who pulled out in front of me on the road, but I swerved and managed not to hit him.From the entry close shave
  • If you can't grow a beard and you're balding, shave all of it off and gymmaxx.2022 November 19, u/ELLENRAPELEY2, “You ran for the mirror, but slipped in the clippings”, in Reddit, r/NewGreentexts, archived from the…. From the entry gymmaxx
  • I can shave off a day if I pick up the car in the early evening.2022 December 2, Andrea Sachs, “Why you should ditch your rental car the night before your flight”, in The Washington Post, Washington…. From the entry curse jar
  • Or we're gonna tie you up and shave your ku ku jiao!2018, Peter Chiarelli, Adele Lim, Crazy Rich Asians, spoken by Bernard Tai (Jimmy O. Yang). From the entry ku ku jiao
  • The shave horse is the ubiquitous sit-upon device that is indispensable.2013, Edward Mills, Rebecca Oaks, Greenwood Crafts: A Comprehensive Guide, pages 2-16. From the entry shave horse
  • He was clean shaven but his armpits, I noticed, were unIslamically hairy.2012 March 15, Tim Mackintosh-Smith, Travels with a Tangerine: A Journey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah, London: John Murray Press…. From the entry unislamically
  • To shave my plooky face in hot water is bad enough.2007, Robert Douglas, Somewhere To Lay My Head, →ISBN. From the entry plooky
  • I'll let you be the first in line to shave your notcher, then.2006 February 9, arattle, “Re: Did I shave this morning?”, in alt.music.rush (Usenet). From the entry notcher
  • Laura listened, dumbfounded, as Christabel recounted her close shave inside the house.2005, Susan Geason, All Fall Down, ReadHowYouWant, published 2008, →ISBN, page 81. From the entry lol
  • This big moose, with biceps and a tattoo, shaves his legs.2002, Andy Schell, My Best Man, Kensington Books, page 148. From the entry hotski
  • His hair was thinning and slicked back, and he could have done with a good shave.1996 March, D. William Shunn, “Celestial Mechanics.”, in Fantasy & Science Fiction, volume 90, number 3, page 109. From the entry can do with
  • About once a month he used to shave it off, and come skiting about it.1983, John Carroll, Token Soldiers, Boronia, Vic.: Wildgrass Books, →ISBN, page 247. From the entry skite
  • When they catch one, they use their shaven skulls for butting, their Bovverboots for caving in ribs.1970 March 29, Nik Cohn, “England's New Teen Style Is Violence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry bovver boots
  • " A stubble-bearded conservative quipped: " You don't look like you need a shave.1947 March 10, “Shady Business”, in Time. From the entry blue-bearded
  • I was trying to shave with a bluntish razor-blade while the water ran into the bath.1939, George Orwell, Coming Up for Air, Part I, Chapter 1. From the entry bluntish
  • While the lather was still on he would shave immediately without resoaping.1931, Jack Edward Walters, Student Development: How to Make the Most of College Life, page 112. From the entry resoap
  • He said in his heart, the day his beard was shaven he was beaten, lost.1923, D.H. Lawrence, Kangaroo, chapter XII. From the entry isolate
  • It was very delicate work to clean the flesh side, or green shave it.1914, Leather & Shoes - Volume 47, page 24. From the entry green shave
  • "You can shave as close as you want an' no more close than you want.1913, Jack London, chapter 5, in The Valley of the Moon. From the entry barber's itch
  • Most of them are beardless youth; those who have beards shave them.1911, A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province. From the entry zenana
  • Instead of a frozen bowl or a compressor, the Creami uses a spinning blade that shaves and mixes your frozen ingredients.2025 July 11, Amina Lake Patel, “I’ve used the Ninja Creami Deluxe ice cream maker that’s all over TikTok for a year. Here’s my review”…. From the entry maker
  • A girl in my class asked why I didn't shave my legs – I knew how to, right?2022, Laila Woozeer, Not Quite White, Simon & Schuster, page 85. From the entry trainer sock
  • Farewell HelloFresh, goodbye shave club and toodle pip Disney+.2022 July 1, Robert Shrimsley, “Time to change my misguided subscription model”, in Financial Times, London: The Financial Times Ltd.…. From the entry toodle pip
  • Kind of a badly shaven PLO sympathizer guy with a— What's that word for the Yasser Arafat scarfy thing?2014, Christopher Buehlman, The Lesser Dead, New York N.Y.: Berkley Books, →ISBN, page 157. From the entry scarfy
  • Hey, just shave those rolled up corn.2013, Bettyjoe Cooper, The Dogs Who Screwed The Cats, page 200. From the entry peasy

Meaning of shave

  1. verb To make (the head, skin etc.) bald or (the hair) shorter by using a tool such as a razor or electric clippers to cut the hair close to the skin.
  2. verb To cut anything in this fashion.
  3. verb To remove hair from one's face by this means.

Full definition of shave

Questions about shave in a sentence

How do you use shave in a sentence?
Shave is used as a verb and noun. For example: “I had little time to shave this morning.”
What is a short sentence with shave?
“Hey, just shave those rolled up corn.”
What does shave mean?
Shave means to make (the head, skin etc.) bald or (the hair) shorter by using a tool such as a razor or electric clippers to cut the hair close to the skin.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shave (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 shave in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/shave. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.