: an act or instance of shaking up
specifically
: an extensive and often drastic reorganization
shook up; shaken up; shaking up; shakes up
2
: to jar by or as if by a physical shock
the collision shook up both drivers
3
: to effect an extensive and often drastic reorganization of
Examples of shake-up in a Sentence
Verb
the news that we had failed the auto inspection shook us up
Recent Examples on the Web
Brian Steinberg, Variety, 16 Aug. 2024
Summer has traditionally been the time for shake-ups in Trump campaigns.
—Jill Colvin and Jonathan J. Cooper, Los Angeles Times, 15 Aug. 2024
Arjun Kharpal, CNBC, 15 Aug. 2024
The rumor comes after President Joe Biden's decision to drop his reelection bid shook up the race and made Trump switch his lines of attack to Vice President Kamala Harris.
—Rachel Barber, USA TODAY, 12 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for shake-up 
Noun
Launch of the new hour is the latest shake-up at the Paramount Global news division since executive Wendy McMahon took sole oversight of the business in August of 2023.
—Brian Steinberg, Variety, 16 Aug. 2024
Summer has traditionally been the time for shake-ups in Trump campaigns.
—Jill Colvin and Jonathan J. Cooper, Los Angeles Times, 15 Aug. 2024
Verb
The company shook up its cloud computing division management last year and has been trying to focus on higher-margin contracts, as well as on improving operating efficiency.
—Arjun Kharpal, CNBC, 15 Aug. 2024
The rumor comes after President Joe Biden's decision to drop his reelection bid shook up the race and made Trump switch his lines of attack to Vice President Kamala Harris.
—Rachel Barber, USA TODAY, 12 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for shake-up
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shake-up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near shake-up
Cite this Entry
“Shake-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shake-up. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.
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