Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use shelf in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun

Shelf means a flat, rigid structure, fixed at right angles to a wall or forming a part of a cabinet, desk, etc., and used to display, store, or support objects. Example: “We keep the old newspapers on the bottom shelf of the cupboard, and our photos on the top shelf.”

Examples of shelf by meaning

nounA flat, rigid structure, fixed at right angles to a wall or forming a part of a cabinet, desk, etc., and used to...

  • We keep the old newspapers on the bottom shelf of the cupboard, and our photos on the top shelf.
  • Supermarket shelves were stripped bare.2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, New York Times, retrieved 31 Oct 2012

nounThe capacity of such an object.

  • a shelf of videos

nounThe part of a repository where shelvesets are stored.

  • A shelf is a place on the server in source control that is separate from the main code line so it will not affect other developers.2012, Bradley Irby, Reengineering .NET
  • Each team member has his own “shelf,” where he can store as many shelvesets as he wants.2016, Wouter de Kort, DevOps on the Microsoft Stack, page 114

More sentences with shelf

  • My old encyclopedia has been gathering dust on the shelf for the past decade.From the entry encyclopedia
  • The baked beans can go on this shelf, and the same goes for all these other tins.From the entry go
  • Where does this book belong? It belongs on the top shelf.From the entry belong
  • Could you please get the book off the top shelf for me?From the entry get off
  • As I took the can off the shelf, I knocked down the one beside it.From the entry knock down
  • Please fold up these towels so they will fit on the shelf.From the entry fold up
  • She couldn't reach the bowls on the uppermost shelf, so she made do with a mug.From the entry uppermost
  • That rinky-dink shelf is likely to collapse if you fill it with books.From the entry rinky-dink
  • His littleness didn't bother him, except when he needed to get something off the top shelf.From the entry littleness
  • His smallness didn't bother him, except when he needed something off the top shelf.From the entry smallness
  • The museum curator went to the shelf and pulled down an ancient metering device.From the entry metering
  • He used his arm to rake the books off the shelf.From the entry rake off
  • I haven't seen any vegetized wafers on the shelf for decades.From the entry vegetized
  • The cellar was a bareish room containing a long shelf and a few wine barrels.From the entry bareish
  • How am I to reach the top shelf without a ladder?From the entry be to
  • Take this book and put it on the shelf.From the entry it
  • The books in the shelf need ordering.From the entry order
  • The shelf bowed under the weight of the books.From the entry bow
  • Those files should go on the bottom shelf.From the entry bottom
  • The shelf broke and the boxes avalanched the workers.From the entry avalanche
  • The marmalade is on the shelf below the bread.From the entry below
  • Please put sharp objects on the rugged shelf.From the entry rugged
  • I bought a bottle of top shelf whiskey.From the entry top shelf
  • Nail down the shelf, then paint it.From the entry nail down
  • His study had books stacked chockablock on every shelf.From the entry chockablock
  • The heavy books caused a bowing in the shelf.From the entry bowing
  • Levi's apartment was a vest-pocket Graceland; every inch of wall and shelf space was covered by Elvis memorabilia.From the entry vest-pocket
  • He carefully put the vase back on the shelf.From the entry put back
  • The books were respaced on the shelf.From the entry respace
  • I lifted down the books from the shelf.From the entry lift down
  • The gun was stored in a small box on a high closet shelf, but the boy managed to reach it by climbing on other boxes.From the entry reach
  • Something's just fallen off the shelf.From the entry something's
  • Next, cut stopped dadoes in the shelf and the underside of the top for the vertical dividers.2026 August, Logan Wittmer, “Whiskey Cabinet”, in Popular Woodworking, volume 290, number 4, page 56. From the entry dado
  • To do that required switching from shelf to shelf in a well-stocked library.2022 January 24, Cynthia D. Bertelsen, “Down the Rabbit Hole: Wandering through an Amazing Maze of Links”, in Gherkins & Tomatoes. From the entry rabbit holing
  • I knew something of gunnery once, but now I'm on the shelf.2021, Bennet Copplestone, The Silent Watchers: England's Navy during the Great War. From the entry mouldy

Meaning of shelf

  1. noun A flat, rigid structure, fixed at right angles to a wall or forming a part of a cabinet, desk, etc., and used to display, store, or support objects.
  2. noun The capacity of such an object.
  3. noun A projecting ledge that resembles such an object.

Full definition of shelf

Questions about shelf in a sentence

How do you use shelf in a sentence?
Shelf is used as a noun. For example: “We keep the old newspapers on the bottom shelf of the cupboard, and our photos on the top shelf.”
What is a short sentence with shelf?
“a shelf of videos”
What does shelf mean?
Shelf means a flat, rigid structure, fixed at right angles to a wall or forming a part of a cabinet, desk, etc., and used to display, store, or support objects.

Source and license

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