How to use shuffle in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Shuffle means the act of mixing cards or mah-jong tiles so as to randomize them. Example: “He made a real mess of the last shuffle.”

Examples of shuffle by meaning

nounThe act of mixing cards or mah-jong tiles so as to randomize them.

He made a real mess of the last shuffle.

nounAn instance of walking without lifting one's feet.

The sad young girl left with a tired shuffle.

verbTo put in a random order.

Don't forget to shuffle the cards.
You shuffle, and I'll deal.
The data packets are shuffled before transmission.

verbTo change; modify the order of something.

But, rather than make a change up front, Hughes shuffled his defence for this match, replacing Carlos Salcido with Baird, in a move which few would have predicted would prove decisive.2010 December 28, Marc Vesty, “Stoke 0 – 2 Fulham”, in BBC Sport

verbTo move in a slovenly, dragging manner; to drag or scrape the feet in walking or dancing.

He shuffled out of the room.
I shuffled my feet in embarrassment.
Even when the other instruments were resting the pianist kept up his monotonous vamping, with a dreary furbelow for embellishment here and there, to which some few of the dancers continued to shuffle round the floor.1954, Alexander Alderson, chapter 4, in The Subtle Minotaur

verbTo shove one way and the other; to push from one to another.

to shuffle money from hand to hand

More sentences with shuffle

A horde of zeds began to shuffle into the shopping mall.From the entry zed
The dog is wont to bum shuffle on the rug immediately after relieving himself outside.From the entry bum shuffle
The cards were shuffled, and the croupier dealt.From the entry deal
I am all thumbs when it comes to shuffling cards.From the entry all thumbs
I would like to understand, and then I’m perfectly fine to shuffle off my mortal coil.”2026, Sebastian Mallaby, “Introduction”, in The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind and the Quest for Superintelligence, Penguin…. From the entry croak
Thirty-five or forty years later, every drummer in the world has to learn the Purdie shuffle.2024 April 11, Menzie Pittman, “23: Bernard Purdie”, in The New Musician: The Art of Entrepreneurship in Today's Music Business, →ISBN…. From the entry Purdie shuffle
“Good work, Jackson.” Doreen Heckle-Flipper and a couple other penguins from the Mom Squad came shuffling over.2020, Sam Hay, chapter 10, in Golden Egg (Spy Penguins), New York, N.Y.: Square Fish, published 2021, →ISBN. From the entry don't count your chicks
It shuffled the cards in our region and changed the perception that Israel is an undefeatable country.2015, Eli Avidar, The Abyss: Bridging the Divide between Israel and the Arab World. From the entry shuffle the cards
Relatives watch as prisoners in handcuffs and leg irons shuffle past.2014 November 27, Ian Black, “Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis”, in The Guardian. From the entry handcuffs
I shuffled from one foot to the other outside the room, as I delayed going in.2013, Susan Clare, Namaste Baby: A Journey to Surrogacy in India, Troubador Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 241. From the entry namaste
O. severtzovi has been shuffled back and forth between the urial and the argali groups.2011, Colin Groves, Peter Grubb, Ungulate Taxonomy, page 237. From the entry urial
Then there is a shuffling sound, and the quiet slide of a spyhole cover.2009 September 13, Ariane Sherine, “Golden shower”, in Guardian. From the entry spyhole
They were struggling to shuffle off the bird as quickly as they could.2007, Brandon Friedman, The War I Always Wanted: The Illusion of Glory, →ISBN, page 57. From the entry ruck
I did a quick learn of the place by watching the people shuffle in.2003, Gregory A. Raymer, The Woodie Chronicles: My Journey Through America on the road t recovery in a 1949 Woodie Wagon. From the entry learn
Shuffle the cards and deal out four cards to each player.2000, Kirsten Larsen, Princesses Pull-Out Posters and Game Cards, page 31. From the entry shuffle the cards
The shuffle() function uses PHP's random number generator to re-arrange the elements of an array randomly.1999, Jesus Castagnetto, Professional PHP Programming, page 162. From the entry re-arrange
So, there shouldn't be any need to "mana shuffle" your deck if you're actually shuffling correctly.1998 December 7, Andrew, “Re: Can we ever do something about manascrew?”, in rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy (Usenet). From the entry mana shuffle
Me, I just kind of moved along in a Daffy Duck shuffle.1996 February 8, Dallas Morning News. From the entry Daffy Duck
Now I can be kicked out of at tourney because of a mana shuffle?1996 September 13, Garry O'Connorg, “New Floor Rules Cheating and shuffleing”, in rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc (Usenet). From the entry mana shuffle
Shuffling his feet in the sand, head bowed low, Joseph stopped at the paanwallah for tea.1994, Nurjehan Aziz, Her Mother's Ashes. From the entry paanwallah
The drums came down to a slow tom-tom beat and shuffle.1954, Ian Fleming, “Table Z”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 59. From the entry tom-tom
After half a minute or so there was a shuffle of feet outside.1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 128. From the entry choker
THE PULL-THROUGH is used for a crooked shuffle to keep the cards stacked.1942, Yank, volume 1, numbers 1-45, page 8. From the entry pull-through
Off he raced, shuffling his bare feet through the hot, dry, shifty sand.1929, Henry Handel Richardson, Ultima Thule, New York: Norton, Part 2, Chapter 3, p. 145. From the entry shifty
There was a slight shuffling movement amoung the men crowded about.1924, Samuel Derieux, “The Trial in Tom Belchers' Store”, in O Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1919. From the entry amoung
Towards them toiled with shuffling gait two ragged wanderers, becindered and begrimed.1921, George Randolph Chester, Lillian Chester, The Son of Wallingford, page 75. From the entry becindered
From around us came shuffling and whispering whilst he gazed reminiscingly at the star-glinted sea.1920, Adventure, page 36. From the entry reminiscingly
A husky-voiced chap with a red brush on his chin shuffled up to the demonstrater.1918 March 9, “Ever Meet a "Shiller"? He's a Cousin to the Fellow Who Could Spot the Pea in the Old Shell Game”, in The Hudson Triangle…. From the entry shiller
He still looks wonderfully young, despite his awkward, shuffling, slinking walk, and his stooped shoulders.1901, George Makepeace Towle, Beaconsfield: In Society - in Parliament - in Literature, Appleton, page 121. From the entry stooped
"Hiiiiiiiiiii!" She shuffled towards me in her silver slippers.2025, Cube Kid [pseudonym; Erik Gunnar Taylor], Diary of an 8-Bit Warrior: Hour of Enchantment, page 117. From the entry sagely

Meaning of shuffle

noun The act of mixing cards or mah-jong tiles so as to randomize them.
noun The act of reordering anything, such as music tracks in a media player.
noun An instance of walking without lifting one's feet.

Full definition of shuffle

Questions about shuffle in a sentence

How do you use shuffle in a sentence?: Shuffle is used as a noun and verb. For example: “He made a real mess of the last shuffle.”
What is a short sentence with shuffle?: “You shuffle, and I'll deal.”
What does shuffle mean?: Shuffle means the act of mixing cards or mah-jong tiles so as to randomize them.

Adapted from Wiktionary: shuffle (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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