Shirk

To avoid or neglect a duty, responsibility, or work, often due to laziness, fear, or a lack of interest. It implies a deliberate effort to escape obligations and can manifest in various ways, from postponing tasks to completely avoiding them. The act of shirking suggests a disregard for one's commitments and can have negative consequences, leading to incomplete projects, damaged relationships, or a failure to meet expectations. This avoidance can involve both physical absence and mental disengagement from the task at hand. Often, shirk is used in a professional or academic setting to avoid work.

Shirk meaning with examples

• During the project's final stretch, several team members began to shirk their responsibilities, leading to a last-minute scramble to meet the deadline. Their inaction and deliberate avoidance of assigned tasks caused significant stress among those who diligently completed their work, placing the whole project at risk.
• The student attempted to shirk his homework by claiming he didn't understand the material, hoping his teacher would excuse him. However, his consistent attempts to avoid studying only led to falling further behind and damaging his grades, ultimately resulting in extra tutoring to catch up.
• Facing the daunting prospect of public speaking, the employee decided to shirk the opportunity to present at the conference, leaving the presentation to a more junior member. The decision highlighted a reluctance to step outside comfort zones and a lack of dedication to career development.
• Despite their initial enthusiasm, several volunteers began to shirk their duties during the community cleanup. Leaving others to manage the workload created resentment and made it difficult to improve the overall effectiveness of the clean-up and to provide any meaningful progress.
• The government officials were accused of **shirking** their duty to protect citizens by ignoring warnings about potential economic instability. Their failure to act, driven by political self-interest, contributed to a major crisis for the community, leading to a loss of confidence.