Shrugs

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ʃɹʌɡz/

Definitions

1. Raises the shoulders slightly as a gesture to show lack of knowledge or concern
2. Lifts the shoulders upward to indicate uncertainty or indifference about something
3. Performs a shoulder shrug as a nonverbal sign of not knowing or not caring

Etymology: "Shrugs" is the third-person singular present form of "shrug," so it names the gesture itself only in the sense of one person doing it. The verb's roots lie in a word for shrinking and crouching. Middle English had "schruggen" and "shrukken," which likely came from a North Germanic source related to Danish "skrugge" and Swedish "skruga," both meaning to stoop or huddle. Those trace back to Old Norse "skrykkva" and ultimately to a Proto-Germanic form meaning to shrink. The shoulder gesture grew out of that sense of drawing in or hunching up. To shrug was first a physical act of crouching, and the modern sense of lifting the shoulders to signal indifference or ignorance developed from the body posture of pulling oneself together. The English word "shrink" is a close relative, sharing the same ancestral root through Old English "scrincan," which meant to shrink.

Synonyms: gestures, dismissals, indifference, uncertainties, neglect

Antonyms: acceptances, acknowledgments, concerns, considerations, regards