shake off
"shake-off" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shake off” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To remove (something attached to, on or clinging to an object) by shaking.
Corpus desk
Index EN-shake-off · shake off · English
shake off · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | shake off |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “shake off” in English
Rare enough to double-check
shake off is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for shake off in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is shake off, spelled S-H-A-K-E- -O-F-F.
Definition
- 1To remove (something attached to, on or clinging to an object) by shaking.
- 2To dissociate oneself from (an allegation or rumour).
- 3To lose someone who is tracking you.
- 4To rid oneself of a malady or its symptoms
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how shake off appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The archaeologists shook off the dust that had fallen from the roof, and promptly continued their work.
Dozens of foreigners have been jailed for child sex crimes or deported to face trial in their home countries since Cambodia launched an anti-pedophilia push in 2003, to try to shake off its reputation as a haven for sex predators.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.