Word.ws English Dictionary

shrews

shrews is the plural of shrew.

Meaning of shrew

Noun

shrew (plural shrews)

  1. Any of numerous small, mouselike, chiefly nocturnal, mammals of the family Soricidae.
    Synonyms:
    ranny, soricid
  2. Certain other small mammals that resemble true shrews.
  3. (derogatory) An ill-tempered, nagging woman: a scold.
    • The clerk had, I'm afraid, a shrew of a wife—shrill, vehement, and fluent. 'Rogue,' 'old miser,' 'old sneak,' and a great many worse names, she called him.1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard

See all 4 meanings of shrew

Phrases with shrews

14 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about shrews

What is shrews the plural of?
Shrews is the plural of shrew.

Words near shrews in the dictionary

  1. Shrewley
  2. shrewlike
  3. shrewly
  4. shrewmice
  5. shrewmouse
  6. shrews
  7. Shrewsbury
  8. Shrewsbury cake
  9. Shrewsbury cakes
  10. Shrey
  11. Shreya

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shrews (page history and authors); shrew (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “shrews.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shrews. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.