shepherded; shepherding; shepherds
1
: to tend as a shepherd
2
: to guide or guard in the manner of a shepherd
shepherded the bill through Congress
Synonyms
Examples of shepherd in a Sentence
Verb
She carefully shepherded the children across the street.
They shepherded the bill through Congress.
Recent Examples on the Web
Linda McIntosh, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Apr. 2024
About the size of a German shepherd and resembling a jackal, D. avus roamed Patagonia’s grasslands from the late Ice Age until about 500 years ago.
—Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Apr. 2024
Two-year-old Falcon has some black-and-tan in him with the coat of a German shepherd.
—Jamie L. Lareau, Detroit Free Press, 15 Apr. 2024
The city is famous as the home of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce—a dark, sweet yet sour, almost indescribably English condiment, first sold by a pair of chemists in 1837—which has been doused on two centuries’ worth of shepherd’s pie and other stodgy lunches.
—Sam Knight, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024
Harmon first spoke out about Oliver's death on Monday, mourning the loss with a series of photos and videos of the German shepherd/beagle mix.
—Gabrielle Rockson, Peoplemag, 3 Apr. 2024
The majority of Uncle Sam’s shepherds (and other breeds) — almost 3,000 — work for the Department of Homeland Security.
—Andrew Van Dam, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024
Live music and specialty foods like bangers & mash, corned beef sandwiches and shepherds pie.
—Luann Gibbs, The Enquirer, 13 Mar. 2024
Choices include baked fish cakes, corned beef and cabbage, lamb and dumpling stew, and shepherd’s pie.
—Heidi Finley, Charlotte Observer, 1 Mar. 2024
Alexandra MacOn, Vogue, 24 Apr. 2024
The effort, the 19th annual Charlotte Playground Build, is shepherded by the United Way of Greater Charlotte.
—Lisa Vernon Sparks, Charlotte Observer, 23 Apr. 2024
The Indiana comedies strand being shepherded by Nunziante, has two lines of development.
—Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 28 Mar. 2024
Ireland’s first gay, mixed race leader soon became the face of a new and more liberal Ireland, shepherding in progressive social change through a string of successful referendums.
—Niamh Kennedy, CNN, 24 Mar. 2024
In 2011, Lan was enlisted to shepherd the merger of the troubled Saigon Joint Commercial Bank, or SCB, with two other lenders in a plan overseen by the Vietnam Central Bank.
—Charlie Campbell, TIME, 12 Apr. 2024
But the sincerity and the hard work can’t seem to shepherd these Southern characters into the modest domain of the plausible.
—New York Times, 26 Mar. 2024
What was once a holy ground shepherded by a rapturous man simply known as Pastor (Steven Pasquale), model evangelical teen Dawn O’Keefe (Alyse Alan Louis) and her angelic group of Promise Keeper Girls morphs into a breeding ground for sin.
—Brittani Samuel, Washington Post, 20 Mar. 2024
The students arrived in a caravan of cars, shepherded by Atshan, and piled onto couches in the living room, laughing, starting sentences in Arabic and finishing them in English.
—Hannah Goldfield, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2024
Noun
Animal: Romeo, 1-year-old male shepherd mix; No. 893678.
—Linda McIntosh, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Apr. 2024
About the size of a German shepherd and resembling a jackal, D. avus roamed Patagonia’s grasslands from the late Ice Age until about 500 years ago.
—Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Apr. 2024
Two-year-old Falcon has some black-and-tan in him with the coat of a German shepherd.
—Jamie L. Lareau, Detroit Free Press, 15 Apr. 2024
The city is famous as the home of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce—a dark, sweet yet sour, almost indescribably English condiment, first sold by a pair of chemists in 1837—which has been doused on two centuries’ worth of shepherd’s pie and other stodgy lunches.
—Sam Knight, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024
Harmon first spoke out about Oliver's death on Monday, mourning the loss with a series of photos and videos of the German shepherd/beagle mix.
—Gabrielle Rockson, Peoplemag, 3 Apr. 2024
The majority of Uncle Sam’s shepherds (and other breeds) — almost 3,000 — work for the Department of Homeland Security.
—Andrew Van Dam, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024
Live music and specialty foods like bangers & mash, corned beef sandwiches and shepherds pie.
—Luann Gibbs, The Enquirer, 13 Mar. 2024
Choices include baked fish cakes, corned beef and cabbage, lamb and dumpling stew, and shepherd’s pie.
—Heidi Finley, Charlotte Observer, 1 Mar. 2024
Verb
Guests were shepherded from cocktail hour down to the beach where there was an open-air tent.
—Alexandra MacOn, Vogue, 24 Apr. 2024
The effort, the 19th annual Charlotte Playground Build, is shepherded by the United Way of Greater Charlotte.
—Lisa Vernon Sparks, Charlotte Observer, 23 Apr. 2024
The Indiana comedies strand being shepherded by Nunziante, has two lines of development.
—Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 28 Mar. 2024
Ireland’s first gay, mixed race leader soon became the face of a new and more liberal Ireland, shepherding in progressive social change through a string of successful referendums.
—Niamh Kennedy, CNN, 24 Mar. 2024
In 2011, Lan was enlisted to shepherd the merger of the troubled Saigon Joint Commercial Bank, or SCB, with two other lenders in a plan overseen by the Vietnam Central Bank.
—Charlie Campbell, TIME, 12 Apr. 2024
But the sincerity and the hard work can’t seem to shepherd these Southern characters into the modest domain of the plausible.
—New York Times, 26 Mar. 2024
What was once a holy ground shepherded by a rapturous man simply known as Pastor (Steven Pasquale), model evangelical teen Dawn O’Keefe (Alyse Alan Louis) and her angelic group of Promise Keeper Girls morphs into a breeding ground for sin.
—Brittani Samuel, Washington Post, 20 Mar. 2024
The students arrived in a caravan of cars, shepherded by Atshan, and piled onto couches in the living room, laughing, starting sentences in Arabic and finishing them in English.
—Hannah Goldfield, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shepherd.' 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 shepherd
Cite this Entry
“Shepherd.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shepherd. Accessed 28 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
shepherd
1 of 2 noun
shep·herd
ˈshep-ərd 
1
: a person who takes care of sheep
2
shepherd
2 of 2 verb
: to care for as or as if a shepherd
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