SHOULDER | Meaning, Definition In Cambridge English Dictionary

Meaning of shoulder in English shouldernoun uk /ˈʃəʊl.dər/ us /ˈʃoʊl.dɚ/

shoulder noun (BODY PART)

Add to word list Add to word list B1 [ C ] one of the two parts of the body at each side of the neck that join the arms to the rest of the body: I rested my head on her shoulder. Then she put her arm around my shoulder and gave me a kiss. She glanced nervously over her shoulder to make sure no one else was listening.   Staras/ iStock/Getty Images Plus/GettyImages shoulders [ plural ] the top part of a person's back: He was about six feet tall with broad shoulders. "I don't know what to do about it," said Martha, shrugging her shoulders.   Glow Wellness/Glow/GettyImages the parts of a piece of clothing that cover the wearer's shoulders: The shoulders look a little tight. Do you want to try a larger size? a jacket with padded shoulders   herkisi/iStock/Getty Images Plus/GettyImages [ C ] the part of a bottle that curves out below its opening

• He gave me a friendly clap on the shoulder and said, "Well done!"
• The bullet went clean through his shoulder.
• She cried out in pain as the bullet grazed her shoulder.
• She gave him a playful cuff on the shoulder.
• This exercise is designed to develop the shoulder and back muscles.

The human torso

• -shouldered
• abd
• abdominals
• alcohol belly
• axilla
• barrel-chested
• beer belly
• beer gut
• belly button
• bosom
• crutch
• midriff
• pectoralis
• phrenic
• potbelly
• rotator cuff
• smooth muscle
• stomach
• trunk
• waist

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Parts of clothes Containers for liquids and gases

shoulder noun (RESPONSIBILITY)

 someone's shoulders used to refer to the responsibility that someone has or feels for something: A huge burden was lifted from my shoulders (= I became much less worried) when I told my parents about my problem. Responsibility for the dispute rests squarely on the shoulders of the president. Duty, obligation and responsibility

• accountable
• accountable to someone
• accountably
• answer for something phrasal verb
• bind
• dual role
• duty
• duty of care
• fall to someone phrasal verb
• fiefdom
• not my circus, not my monkeys idiom
• obligated
• obligation
• obligatorily
• obligatory
• owe
• preserve
• saddle
• someone's answer to someone/something idiom
• thrust

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shoulder noun (MEAT)

[ C or U ] a piece of meat that includes the upper part of an animal's front leg: I've bought a shoulder of lamb for Sunday lunch. Cuts of meat

• baby back ribs
• baron of beef
• bavette
• boneless
• bottom round
• filet
• fillet
• fillet steak
• flank steak
• flanken
• rasher
• rib eye
• rib roast
• riblet
• round steak
• T-bone steak
• tenderloin
• tomahawk
• top round
• tournedos

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shoulder noun (ROAD SIDE)

[ C usually singular ] US an area along the side of a main road where cars can stop: There were tire tracks left in the soft shoulder (= area of dirt or grass by the road). See also hard shoulder   possum1961/iStock/Getty Images Plus/GettyImages Roads: motorways

• access road
• artery
• autobahn
• carriageway
• clearway
• contraflow
• freeway
• hard shoulder
• highway
• HOV lane
• motorway
• ramp
• route
• single carriageway
• slip road
• smart highway
• superhighway
• tollgate
• tollway
• turnpike

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Related word

-shouldered

Idioms

a shoulder to cry on shoulder to shoulder stand shoulder to shoulder with someone shoulderverb uk /ˈʃəʊl.dər/ us /ˈʃoʊl.dɚ/

shoulder verb (ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY)

 shoulder the blame, burden, responsibility, cost, etc. to accept that you are responsible for something bad or difficult: It is women who mainly shoulder responsibility for the care of elderly and disabled relatives. Teachers cannot be expected to shoulder all the blame for poor exam results. Accepting & agreeing reluctantly

• accede to something phrasal verb
• acceptance
• acquiescence
• be resigned to something idiom
• bend to something phrasal verb
• bow down to someone phrasal verb
• cave in phrasal verb
• concede
• crack
• like it or lump it idiom
• peace
• reconcile yourself to something phrasal verb
• resign
• resign yourself to something phrasal verb
• resignation
• resigned
• resignedly
• resort to something phrasal verb
• split
• tolerate

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shoulder verb (BODY PART)

[ T ] to put something on your shoulders to carry it: Shouldering her pack, she strode off up the road. [ T + adv/prep ] to push something with one of your shoulders: She was carrying two suitcases and had to shoulder the door open. He shouldered his way (= formed a way through by pushing with his shoulders) to the front of the crowd to get a better look. Transferring and transporting objects

• air freight
• bearer
• blockade runner
• borne
• bring
• carry
• collect
• deliver
• freight train
• goods train
• haulage
• haulier
• heft
• import
• transplantation
• turnaround
• turnaround time
• uplift
• virement
• wheel

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Pushing and shoving (Definition of shoulder from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

shoulder | American Dictionary

shouldernoun [ C ] us /ˈʃoʊl·dər/

shoulder noun [C] (BODY PART)

Add to word list Add to word list one of the two rounded, bony parts of a person’s body on either side of the neck where the top of the arm is joined: She put her head on my shoulder. A shoulder of a road is an edge just beyond the part you drive along, where you can stop safely. shoulderverb [ T ] us /ˈʃoʊl·dər/

shoulder verb [T] (ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY)

to accept responsibility for something: It is usually women who shoulder the responsibility for the care of elderly relatives.

shoulder verb [T] (PUT ON BODY PART)

to put something on your shoulders to carry it: Shouldering her pack, she strode off up the road. (Definition of shoulder from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of shoulder

shoulder It is thus possible to draw the range of spike length for which oscillation occurred against shoulder radius (figure 3). From the Cambridge English Corpus Peripheral mobilization, particularly of the shoulder, is a useful technique. From the Cambridge English Corpus Lengthening the spike has the effect of moving the point of re-attachment of the separated layer up the nose of the body towards the shoulder. From the Cambridge English Corpus Lateral margin with elevated outwardly curved, short (exsag.) shoulders. From the Cambridge English Corpus They were strapped in order to eliminate shoulder displacements and to fixate the subject's torso to the back of the seat. From the Cambridge English Corpus This increased risk of shoulder dystocia may be due to differences in anthropometric body proportions in such infants. From the Cambridge English Corpus Her growing maturity is natural and inevitable, given the responsibilities she has no alternative but to shoulder. From the Cambridge English Corpus It is at this point that the shoulders usually come to lie in an oblique orientation relative to the maternal pelvis. From the Cambridge English Corpus At the outset, all the musical genres and all the individuals rubbed shoulders with one another without inhibition. From the Cambridge English Corpus An objective definition of shoulder dystocia: prolonged head to body delivery intervals and/or the use of ancillary obstetric maneuvres. From the Cambridge English Corpus The range of motion of the inner shoulder joint is about one third of those of the outer shoulder joint. From the Cambridge English Corpus Finally, the forces on actuators in some typical motions for neck and shoulder are plotted. From the Cambridge English Corpus On measures of shoulder muscle strength, there was no effect of lighting in subjects exposed to incandescent or fluorescent sources. From the Cambridge English Corpus This means the shoulder angle sensory information contains a negligible amount of motion acceleration compared to gravity acceleration. From the Cambridge English Corpus She heels the floor and slowly moves her body forward, making ample gestures with her arms, first the right shoulder, then the left shoulder. From the Cambridge English Corpus See all examples of shoulder These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with shoulder

shoulder

These are words often used in combination with shoulder.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

anterior shoulderIf relocation of the anterior shoulder has not occurred, further rotation is needed before traction is again applied to the head. From the Cambridge English Corpus   dislocated shoulderHe did this with a dislocated shoulder. From Wikipedia This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.   injured shoulderOn his 8-yard touchdown reception, he appeared to have an injured shoulder (made noticeable by his unenthusiastic post-score celebratory dance). From Wikipedia This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.   These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. See all collocations with shoulder What is the pronunciation of shoulder?

Translations of shoulder

in Chinese (Traditional) 身體部位, 肩，肩膀，肩部, 瓶肩（瓶頸下面擴大的部分）… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 身体部位, 肩，肩膀，肩部, 瓶肩（瓶颈下面扩大的部分）… See more in Spanish hombro, paleta, arcén… See more in Portuguese ombro, acostamento, ombro [masculine]… See more in Marathi in Japanese in Turkish in French in Catalan in Dutch in Tamil in Hindi in Gujarati in Danish in Swedish in Malay in German in Norwegian in Urdu in Ukrainian in Telugu in Bengali in Czech in Indonesian in Thai in Vietnamese in Polish in Korean in Italian खांदा… See more 肩, （道路の）路肩, 肩（かた）… See more omuz, (otoyol) cep, acil durum cebi… See more épaule [feminine], épaule, épaulement… See more espatlla, voral… See more schouder, helling, op zijn schouders nemen… See more கைகளை உடலின் மற்ற பகுதிகளுடன் இணைக்கும் கழுத்தின் ஒவ்வொரு பக்கத்திலும் உள்ள உடலின் இரண்டு பாகங்களில் ஒன்று… See more कंधा… See more ખભો… See more skulder, bov, tage over skulderen… See more axel, skuldra, vägkant… See more bahu, belakang, mengangkat ke bahu… See more die Schulter, der Vorsprung, das Schulterstück… See more skulder [masculine], skulder, bryst… See more کندھا, شانہ… See more плече, виступ, узбіччя… See more భుజం… See more কাঁধ… See more rameno, úbočí, dát si na ramena… See more bahu, bagian bahu, bagian atas… See more บ่า, ไหล่, ไหล่เสื้อ… See more vai, bộ phận giống như vai con người, vai áo… See more ramię, bark, pobocze… See more 어깨, 갓길… See more spalla, corsia di emergenza, (prendere sulle spalle)… See more Need a translator?

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More meanings of shoulder

• shoulder bag
• shoulder blade
• cold shoulder
• cold-shoulder
• hard shoulder
• shoulder-fired
• shoulder line

See all meanings

• shoulder to shoulder idiom
• a shoulder to cry on idiom
• a chip on your shoulder idiom
• give someone the cold shoulder idiom
• stand shoulder to shoulder with someone idiom
• have a chip on your shoulder idiom

See all idioms and phrases

Word of the Day

agony aunt

UK /ˈæɡ.ə.ni ˌɑːnt/ US /ˈæɡ.ə.ni ˌænt/

a person, usually a woman, who gives advice to people with personal problems, especially in a regular magazine or newspaper article

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• English   
  • Noun 
    • shoulder (BODY PART)
    • shoulders
    • shoulder (RESPONSIBILITY)
    • someone's shoulders
    • shoulder (MEAT)
    • shoulder (ROAD SIDE)
  • Verb 
    • shoulder (ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY)
    • shoulder the blame, burden, responsibility, cost, etc.
    • shoulder (BODY PART)
• American   
  • Noun 
    • shoulder (BODY PART)
  • Verb 
    • shoulder (ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY)
    • shoulder (PUT ON BODY PART)
• Examples
• Collocations

• Translations
• Grammar
• All translations

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