Thesaurus.com
Dictionary.com
Definitions

shaft

[shaft, shahft] / ʃæft, ʃɑft /
NOUN
rod
Synonyms


NOUN
weapon
Synonyms
NOUN
ray of light
Synonyms




Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

During a test of the shaft deluge system, airflow sensors on the 4850 Level recorded an unexpected increase in air movement.

From Science Daily Jul. 6, 2026

A headframe — that’s the tower built directly over an underground mine shaft — is part of Tonopah’s logo.

From Los Angeles Times Jun. 14, 2026

It plans to sink the mine’s first shaft this year, and hopes to repeat similar success in Congo.

From The Wall Street Journal Mar. 28, 2026

And yet, Gellar has gotten the shaft time and again, unable to fully break free from the characters she’s known for to craft a new on-screen persona that fans can fall in love with.

From Salon Mar. 26, 2026

“A shaft of sunlight at the end of a dark afternoon, a note in music, and the way the back of a baby’s neck smells if its mother keeps it tidy,” answered Henry.

From "Stuart Little" by E.B. White

It’s not clear where the ventilation shafts are at Pickaxe or if they lead into the heart of the site.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 17, 2026

Although mining no longer takes place there, mining engineers remain responsible for maintaining the extensive network of tunnels and shafts safely.

From Science Daily Jul. 6, 2026

Emergency workers said they had rescued six miners from the shafts in Sutatausa, north of the capital, Bogotá.

From BBC May 5, 2026

While rare earths will be the primary focus, exploration will also assess the potential for gold mining — the area is dotted with old, small-scale adits and shafts.

From Los Angeles Times Mar. 30, 2026

She activated her headlights, and suddenly bright shafts of light were beaming out from her eyes and illuminating the whole mountaintop.

From "The Wild Robot" by Peter Brown

In her view, she was shafted into the “what’s mine is yours” agreement.

From Salon Apr. 23, 2026

"I didn't anticipate that if things went wrong that we would be shafted, to put it bluntly".

From BBC Mar. 24, 2025

“The continuous theme in the record industry, from vinyl to Napster to streaming,” Menn said, “is that bands get shafted in every single iteration of the system.”

From Los Angeles Times May 29, 2024

The rare find included a shafted Roman "pilum" spear.

From Reuters Sep. 6, 2023

Without even trying, she’d shafted her best friend.

From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld

For some, it’s the beautiful place where having it all means shafting someone else, as in Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown,” about Los Angeles’ theft of water from the Owens Valley.

From Salon Nov. 7, 2019

Lindsay was instrumental, way back in the dark ages of the fifties, in forcing the N.H.L. to redress the historic shafting of their chattels by an ownership combine stuck in nineteenth-century ideas of employee relations.

From The New Yorker Apr. 19, 2015

Not too long ago, positive change inevitably occurred following an embarrassing news report of a company behaving badly, e.g., shafting its employees out of their justly earned wages.

From Forbes Feb. 16, 2015

Among four citations alleging repeat safety violations were charges of unguarded elevated platforms and horizontal shafting.

From Washington Times Jun. 16, 2014

Instead she saw...the sky—moonlight shafting through smoke, and even the glimmer of stars.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor




Vocabulary lists containing shaft


Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 12,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training