Word.ws English Dictionary

shaking one's head

shaking one's head is the present participle and gerund of shake one's head.

Meaning of shake one's head

Verb

shake one's head (third-person singular simple present shakes one's head, present participle shaking one's head, simple past shook one's head, past participle shaken one's head)

  1. To move one's head from side to side, in a repeated swiveling motion from the neck, to indicate disagreement, negation, disbelief, disapproval or dismay.
    • She was shaking her head no.
  2. (uncommon) To move one's head up and down, in a repeated hinge-like motion from the top of the spine, to indicate agreement, affirmation, approval, or simply polite attentiveness.
    • She listened with care, shaking her head in agreement from time to time.2005, Robert Silverberg, At Winter's End: The New Springtime, Volume 1, →ISBN, page 305
    Synonyms:
    nod

Questions about shaking one's head

What is shaking one's head the present participle and gerund of?
Shaking one's head is the present participle and gerund of shake one's head.

Words near shaking one's head in the dictionary

  1. shaking off
  2. shaking off the dust from one's feet
  3. shaking on it
  4. shaking one's ass
  5. shaking one's elbow
  6. shaking one's head
  7. shaking out
  8. shaking over
  9. shaking palsy
  10. Shaking Quaker
  11. Shaking Quakers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shaking one's head (page history and authors); shake one's head (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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