shut-in

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of shut-in Like Wick, Nathan Caine (Quaid) is an unassuming, socially awkward shut-in who possesses a unique set of dormant skills, which get unleashed by unpredictable (and exceptionally violent) external forces. Gregory Nussen, Deadline, 8 Mar. 2025 The shut-in tropes of the stay-at-home parent no longer apply—these women are neither disconnected nor stagnant. Neha Ruch, TIME, 14 Jan. 2025 The filmmaker hatched the project before the COVID-19 pandemic, but somehow failed to consider that audiences have had their fill of claustrophobic shut-in stories. Peter Debruge, Variety, 1 Sep. 2024 Advertisement Arlo, though, is absent and presumed dead, and Naoise’s mom (Simone Kirby) has become a shut-in. Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 2 Aug. 2024 Solomon wants Fizz to be a place for an online meet-cute or where frat boys and dorm shut-ins find common ground through the sale of a used textbook—an oasis for community that is as functional as it is feel-good. Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 20 July 2024 These are among the least bellicose films A24 has ever released: dramas about sensitive oily-cake salesmen, frustrated ceramicists, lonely shut-ins, and boys who love horses. Nate Jones, Vulture, 24 Apr. 2024 Who, besides incels and shut-ins, wants to spend all day talking to chatbots? Kevin Roose, New York Times, 9 May 2024 For many, many years by then, my mother had lived mostly as a shut-in, able to walk but very unsteadily; my father used their home’s three front porch steps to keep her indoors. Sarah Stankorb, Longreads, 9 May 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shut-in
Noun
  • The other is a recluse who lives elsewhere and publishes word and number puzzles under the pen name Ludwig.
    Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune, 19 Mar. 2025
  • There’s something about the rap-pop recluse Yabujin’s music that captures this malfunctioning, ersatz charm like nothing else.
    Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 19 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • Starting in July, the islands transform into a sea of hydrangeas, with vibrant white, blue and purple blooms lining roads and valleys.
    Emese Maczko, Forbes, 19 Mar. 2025
  • These early cosmic hills and valleys extend millions of light years across, and in the billions of years after the ACT snapshot, gravity pulled their denser regions inwards to birth stars that then formed the first galaxies.
    Robert Lea, Space.com, 18 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • George lives something of a hermit’s life in Hudson.
    Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 20 Feb. 2025
  • The monastery is also home to pink-robe-wearing novice monks, who train at Taung Kalat, and yetis, or hermit monks, who glide in their peaked caps in quiet contemplation across the precariously balanced complex.
    Shoshi Parks, Smithsonian Magazine, 31 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • In the end, Irving (John Turturro) uncovers the truth about Helena, aggressively outing the Outie by nearly drowning her in the hollow.
    Josh Wigler, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Feb. 2025
  • Where this side canyon originated on the slope of the mountain was a hollow of generous dimensions.
    Frank C. Hibben, Outdoor Life, 27 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • According to our recent research, the U.S. is becoming a nation of homebodies.
    Brian D. Taylor, The Conversation, 10 Mar. 2025
  • The largemouth is more of a homebody, while the smallmouth is more of a traveler.
    Derek Horner, Outdoor Life, 27 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • The 2021 Caldor Fire raced toward the South Lake Tahoe neighborhood of Christmas Valley, tucked in a secluded vale.
    CalMatters, The Mercury News, 20 Mar. 2025
  • The wind blew briskly over the glacier, and the vale echoed with the sound of frozen boulders crashing down the slopes.
    Carl Zimmer, New York Times, 17 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • Easing out of Glasgow Central station, the Glasgow-to-Mallaig line follows the mighty River Clyde before darting into the wild glens of Loch Lomond.
    James March, Travel + Leisure, 3 Feb. 2025
  • The glen runs straight through the distillery in an earth-floor warehouse, granting it instant exposure to its naturally abundant environment.
    Brianna Kamienski, USA TODAY, 30 July 2024
Noun
  • Kloss’ landscape prints deftly, insightfully capture the mountains and streams and gorges and cottonwood trees and snow and atmosphere of the terrain in and around Taos.
    Chadd Scott, Forbes, 15 Mar. 2025
  • Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park spans 31,000 acres of exceptionally rugged, remote terrain that surrounds part of a deep, steep-walled gorge carved into rock by the Gunnison River, McClatchy News reported.
    Brooke Baitinger, Idaho Statesman, 25 Feb. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Shut-in.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shut-in. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.

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