What does "shore" mean?
Land adjoining a non-flowing body of water, such as an ocean, lake or pond.
Shore
/ʃɔː(ɹ)/ adv, name, noun, verb
adv, name, noun, verb ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Land adjoining a non-flowing body of water, such as an ocean, lake or pond.
- Grammar: shore is listed as adv, name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: afford support, aquatic, back, back up.
- Useful contrasts: great waters, greater waters, shipboard.
- Usage evidence: I can see some boats far away from the shore.
How to use "shore"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "shore" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "shore" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "shore" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "shore" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "shore" is acting as adv, name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "afford support" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "shore", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Land adjoining a non-flowing body of water, such as an ocean, lake or pond.
"lake shore; bay shore; gulf shore; island shore; mainland shore; river shore; estuary shore; pond shore; sandy shore; rocky shore"
- 2 A prop or strut supporting some structure or weight above it.
"The shores stayed upright during the earthquake."
- 3 A sewer. transitive
"Emptie olde receptacles, or common-shores of filthe."
- 4 a beam or timber that is propped against a structure to provide support wordnet
- 5 Land, usually near a port.
"The seamen were serving on shore instead of on ships."
Show 1 more definition
- 6 the land along the edge of a body of water wordnet
Verb
- 1 To arrive at the shore intransitive, obsolete
"the ship quickened her way, and shot past that rocke, where wee thought shee would have shored."
- 2 Not followed by up: to provide (something) with support. transitive
"If houses were present these could be used to conceal the mine opening. As the mine progressed the roof was shored with timbers."
- 3 simple past of shear form-of, past, transitive
"Then Frodo stepped up to the great grey net, and hewed it with a wide sweeping stroke[…]. The blue-gleaming blade shore through them like a scythe through grass […]."
- 4 To threaten or warn unpleasant consequences (for someone); (sometimes) to threaten or warn off or scare away. Scotland, archaic, transitive
"The Gleds might pyked her at the dyke, Before the lads wad shored them off her."
- 5 support by placing against something solid or rigid wordnet
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 To put ashore. obsolete, transitive
"I will bring these two moles, these blind ones, aboard him: if he think it fit to shore them again"
- 7 Usually followed by up: to reinforce (something at risk of failure). transitive
"My family shored me up after I failed the GED."
- 8 To threaten (to rain). Scotland, archaic, transitive
"For a' our tears and sighs are but in vain: Come, help me up; — yon sooty cloud shores rain."
- 9 arrive on shore wordnet
- 10 To offer or present (someone something). Scotland, archaic, transitive
"... a compliment kindly and decently shored, […]"
- 11 serve as a shore to wordnet
Adverb
- 1 Pronunciation spelling of sure. Scotland, alt-of, archaic, pronunciation-spelling, transitive
Proper Noun
- 1 A topographic surname from Middle English.
- 2 A place in England:; A suburb of Littleborough, Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester (OS grid ref SD9216).
- 3 A place in England:; A hamlet near Cornholme in Todmorden parish, Calderdale borough, West Yorkshire (OS grid ref SD9126).
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"I can see some boats far away from the shore."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "shore"?
Common synonyms include: afford support, aquatic, back, back up, balneal, bank.
How do you use "shore" in a sentence?
I can see some boats far away from the shore.
How do you pronounce "shore"?
Pronounced /ʃɔː(ɹ)/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English schore, from Old English *sċora (attested as sċor- in placenames), from Proto-Germanic *skurô (“rugged rock, cliff, high rocky shore”). Possibly related to Old English sċieran (“to cut”), which survives today as English shear. Cognate with Middle Dutch scorre (“land washed by the sea”), Middle Low German schor (“shore, coast, headland”), Middle High German schorre ("rocky crag, high rocky shore"; > German Schorre, Schorren (“towering rock, crag”)), and Limburgish sjaor (“riverbank”). Maybe connected with Norwegian Bokmål skjær.
Etymology 2
From Late Middle English shore (“a prop, a support”) [and other forms], from Middle Dutch schore, schare (“a prop, a stay”) (modern Dutch schoor), and Middle Low German schōre, schāre (“a prop, a stay; barrier; stockade”) (compare Old Norse skorða (“a prop, a stay”) (Norwegian skor, skorda)); further etymology unknown.
Etymology 3
From Late Middle English shoren (“to prop, to support”) [and other forms], from Middle English shore (“a prop, a support”) (see etymology 2) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive form of verbs); compare Middle Dutch schooren (“to prop up, support”) and Middle Low German schore (“to shovel; to sweep”).
Etymology 4
See shear.
Etymology 5
Originally common-shore.
Etymology 6
Uncertain. The word is attested in Northern English and Scots; the DSL states that schore "to threaten" is attested before 1400 (a corresponding noun schoyr is attested since 1375: "vith gret schoyr and mannasyng" in Barbour's Bruce), and suggests it might ultimately be related to Old Scots schoir "steep (of a crag)", related to shear. Alternatively, it has been suggested that it might be a variant of score or sure and related to assure.
Etymology 7
* As an English surname, from the noun shore. * As a Jewish surname, spelling variant of Schorr, Szor, Schauer.