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Collocations for shoulder - noun

1. part of the body

ADJECTIVE

dislocated, fractured, frozen, injured, sore, wounded
His frozen shoulder has stopped him from playing tennis.

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shoulder + NOUN

injury
blade, bones, joint, muscle, socket
The bullet hit him squarely between the shoulder blades.
height, level
harness, sling, strap
pad
bag

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PREPOSITION

over your shoulder
He slung the sack over his shoulder and set off.

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PHRASES

a pat on the shoulder
He gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
shoulder to shoulder
The route of the procession was lined with police officers standing shoulder to shoulder.
tap sb on the shoulder
I tapped the man on the shoulder and asked him to move.

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2. (shoulders) the part between the two shoulders

ADJECTIVE

broad, huge, muscled, muscular, powerful, strong, wide
delicate, slim
narrow, thin
square
round
bony
bowed
bare
tense, tight

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VERB + SHOULDERS

shrug
When I asked him why he'd done it he just shrugged his shoulders.
hunch
He hunched his shoulders against the cold wind.
drop, relax
Inhale, drop your shoulders and raise your chest.
roll, rotate
Roll your shoulders forward and take a deep breath.
square, straighten
In an aggressive situation, we stand tall and square our shoulders.

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SHOULDERS + VERB

be bent, be bowed, be stooped
She was crouched with her head forward and her shoulders bent.
droop, drop, sag, slump
My shoulders dropped with relief.
lift, shrug
Her shoulders lifted in a vague shrug.
heave, shake, twitch
His broad shoulders heaved with sobs.
stiffen, tense, tighten
relax

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PREPOSITION

on sb's shoulders
The child sat on her father's shoulders to watch the parade go by.

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Collocations for shoulder - verb

1. accept the responsibility for sth

VERB + shoulder

have to, must
She had to shoulder the burden of childcare.
be willing to
be unwilling to
He was unwilling to shoulder this responsibility alone.

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2. push sb/sth with your shoulder

ADVERB

roughly
We were shouldered roughly out of the way.
aside, out of the way
open
He shouldered open the door.
past

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PHRASES

shoulder your way past sb/sth, shoulder your way through sth
She shouldered her way through the crowd.

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Shoulder is used with these nouns as the object:
backpack, bag, blame, burden, load, responsibility, rucksack, way

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