shoulder

1. 1.

   the part of the body between the neck and the upper arm

   Broaderbody part

   Part oftorso

   Partsarmpitteres
2. 2.

   a cut of meat including the upper joint of the foreleg

   Broadercut

   Part ofchuck
3. 3.

   a ball-and-socket joint between the head of the humerus and a cavity of the scapula

   Synonymsshoulder jointarticulatio humeri

   Broaderball-and-socket joint

   Part oftorso

   Partsscapulacircumflex humeral arterycircumflex scapular arteryrotator cuff
4. 4.

   the part of a garment that covers or fits over the shoulder

   “an ornamental gold braid on the shoulder of his uniform”

   Broadercloth covering

   Part ofgarment
5. 5.

   a narrow edge of land (usually unpaved) along the side of a road

   “the car pulled off onto the shoulder”

   Synonymsberm

   Broaderedge

   Narrowerhard shoulder

   Part ofroad

1. 1.

   lift onto one's shoulders

   Broaderraise
2. 2.

   push with the shoulders

   “He shouldered his way into the crowd”

   Broaderthrust
3. 3.

   carry a burden, either real or metaphoric

   “shoulder the burden”

   Broadertransport

Other forms of shoulder

plural

shoulders·

past tense

shoulderred·

present participle

shoulderring·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about shoulder

What does shoulder mean?

shoulder means "the part of the body between the neck and the upper arm". That is the primary sense; the word has 8 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in shoulder?

shoulder has 2 syllables: shoul-der. The stress falls on "shoul". In IPA it is /ˈʃoʊldɚ/.

What is another word for shoulder?

Close synonyms include shoulder joint, articulatio humeri, berm. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is shoulder a common word?

shoulder is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.