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Definition of "shall" []

  • Used before a verb in the infinitive to show: (auxiliary-verb)
  • Something that will take place or exist in the future: We shall arrive tomorrow. (auxiliary-verb)
  • Something, such as an order, promise, requirement, or obligation: You shall leave now. He shall answer for his misdeeds. The penalty shall not exceed two years in prison. (auxiliary-verb)
  • The will to do something or have something take place: I shall go out if I feel like it. (auxiliary-verb)
  • Something that is inevitable: That day shall come. (auxiliary-verb)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "shall" in a sentence
  • "_As thou hast come with unreasonable pride between the_ sentence _which I had passed, and the_ power _by which I shall execute it_, take thy reward _in another sentence which shall_ make good, _shall establish, shall maintain_, that power."
  • "The Twenty-third Psalm begins, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want, ” and a passage in the Book of Isaiah says that God “shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm."
  • "Thus literally, in accordance with the prophecy, "_Japheth will be enlarged, he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan_ (the negro) _shall be his servant_.""
Words like "shall"