shrug sth off
— phrasal verb with shrug uk/ʃrʌɡ/us/ʃrʌɡ/verb [ I or T ] -gg-
(NOT WORRY)
to treat something as if it is not important or not a problem:
The stock market shrugged off the economic gloom and rose by 1.5 percent.
You're a father and you can't simply shrug off your responsibility for your children.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Treating as unimportant
- blow
- blow sth/sb off
- brush sb/sth aside
- denigrate
- deprecate
- derogate
- derogate from sth
- laugh
- never
- play fast and loose with sth/sb idiom
- pour
- pour scorn on sb/sth idiom
- scorn
- scornful
- scruple
- talk
- talk sth down
- wave
- write
- write sb/sth off
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(NOT KEEP)
to get rid of something unpleasant that you do not want:
I hope I can shrug off this cold before I go on holiday.
The city is trying to shrug off its industrial image and promote itself as a tourist centre.
See also
shake sth off
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Removing and getting rid of things
- abandon
- banish
- be scattered to the four winds idiom
- bin
- cast sb/sth aside/away/off
- flay
- fling sth/sb out
- flush sth out
- fly-tipping
- free sb from/of sth
- junk
- pension
- scrap
- shuffle
- throw the baby out with the bathwater idiom
- toss sth aside
- toss sth out
- turf sth out
- unplug
- weed
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