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English (UK)
Cambridge Dictionary Online

Meaning of shoulder in English

shoulder
noun
uk
/ˈʃəʊl.dər/ us
/ˈʃoʊl.dɚ/

shoulder noun (BODY PART)

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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.
 
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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.
 
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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
 
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[ C ]
the part of a bottle that curves out below its opening
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
The human torso
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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.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Duty, obligation and responsibility
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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.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Cuts of meat
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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
 
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Roads: motorways
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Related word

-shouldered

Idioms

a shoulder to cry on
shoulder to shoulder
stand shoulder to shoulder with someone
shoulder
verb
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.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Accepting & agreeing reluctantly
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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.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Transferring and transporting objects
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(Definition of shoulder from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

shoulder | American Dictionary

shoulder
noun [ C ]
us
/ˈʃoʊl·dər/

shoulder noun [C] (BODY PART)

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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.
shoulder
verb [ 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 shoulder
If 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 shoulder
He did this with a dislocated shoulder.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
injured shoulder
On 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）…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
身体部位, 肩，肩膀，肩部, 瓶肩（瓶颈下面扩大的部分）…
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in Spanish
hombro, paleta, arcén…
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in Portuguese
ombro, acostamento, ombro [masculine]…
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in more languages
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…
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肩, （道路の）路肩, 肩（かた）…
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omuz, (otoyol) cep, acil durum cebi…
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épaule [feminine], épaule, épaulement…
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espatlla, voral…
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schouder, helling, op zijn schouders nemen…
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கைகளை உடலின் மற்ற பகுதிகளுடன் இணைக்கும் கழுத்தின் ஒவ்வொரு பக்கத்திலும் உள்ள உடலின் இரண்டு பாகங்களில் ஒன்று…
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कंधा…
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ખભો…
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skulder, bov, tage over skulderen…
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axel, skuldra, vägkant…
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bahu, belakang, mengangkat ke bahu…
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die Schulter, der Vorsprung, das Schulterstück…
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skulder [masculine], skulder, bryst…
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کندھا, شانہ…
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плече, виступ, узбіччя…
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భుజం…
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কাঁধ…
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rameno, úbočí, dát si na ramena…
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bahu, bagian bahu, bagian atas…
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บ่า, ไหล่, ไหล่เสื้อ…
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vai, bộ phận giống như vai con người, vai áo…
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ramię, bark, pobocze…
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어깨, 갓길…
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spalla, corsia di emergenza, (prendere sulle spalle)…
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Word of the Day

smooth something over

UK
/smuːð/
US
/smuːð/

to make problems, difficulties, or disagreements less serious or easier to solve, usually by talking to the people involved

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