shutter
Americannoun
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a solid or louvered movable cover for a window.
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a movable cover, slide, etc., for an opening.
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a person or thing that shuts.
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Photography. a mechanical device for opening and closing the aperture of a camera lens to expose film or the like.
verb (used with object)
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to close or provide with shutters.
She shuttered the windows.
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to close (a store or business operations) for the day or permanently.
verb (used without object)
noun
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a hinged doorlike cover, often louvred and usually one of a pair, for closing off a window
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to close business at the end of the day or permanently
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photog an opaque shield in a camera that, when tripped, admits light to expose the film or plate for a predetermined period, usually a fraction of a second. It is either built into the lens system or lies in the focal plane of the lens ( focal-plane shutter )
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photog a rotating device in a film projector that permits an image to be projected onto the screen only when the film is momentarily stationary
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music one of the louvred covers over the mouths of organ pipes, operated by the swell pedal
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a person or thing that shuts
verb
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to close with or as if with a shutter or shutters
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to equip with a shutter or shutters
Synonym Usage
See curtain.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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shuttersimple
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shutterssimple
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have shutteredperfect
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has shutteredperfect
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am shutteringprogressive
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are shutteringprogressive
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is shutteringprogressive
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have been shutteringperfect progressive
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has been shutteringperfect progressive
Past
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shutteredsimple
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had shutteredperfect
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was shutteringprogressive
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were shutteringprogressive
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had been shutteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of shutter
Explanation
A shutter is a solid window covering that you close to block out light and open to let the sun shine in. Long ago, most houses had outdoor shutters that acted as an old-fashioned security system, as well as protection from sunlight and stormy weather. Many modern homes have decorative shutters that don't actually open and close. There's another kind of shutter inside your camera, which also opens and closes to let light through to capture a photographic image. Shutter dates from the 1720s, when it was short for window-shutters.
Vocabulary lists containing shutter
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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:
One Vietnamese shop owner in the Mitte district near the former Berlin Wall rolls down his shutter but leaves his door ajar for locals, who know to sneak in for milk and vegetables.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
Baidu and Alibaba formed dedicated quantum research groups, only to shutter them months apart in 2023.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
CBS claimed the move to shutter the “Late Show” was “purely a financial decision.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026
There was just the constant shutter of photographs being taken.
From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2026
She shoots again and again in an explosion of shutter clicks.
From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina
Longer term, he said the UK needed a more strategic approach, including collecting better data, targeted retrofitting of existing homes and learning from hotter countries through measures such as external shutters and reflective exterior paint.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
Most Palestinian shopkeepers in the Old City had pulled down their metal shutters and deserted the stone alleyways.
From Barron's ● May 14, 2026
Opening and closing shutters to block or allow heat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
Likewise, Andy’s story starts when a magnate shutters her current job at a newspaper called the New York Vanguard, firing her and her colleagues for a $500-million tax write-off.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026
Many nights after the door was locked and the shutters closed, I sat on in the flickering gaslight, poring over old inventories and wholesalers’ statements.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Helicopters made repeated runs over houses with shuttered windows, and fire engines tore up and down the road.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
In 2024, Xbox culled more than 2,000 staff and shuttered four studios bought prior to its bumper acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision-Blizzard.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
While the dangerous temperatures shuttered a slew of events, celebrants still packed the streets in Boston, Philadelphia and New York.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 4, 2026
While at Berkshire, Combs helped launch Haven, a shuttered initiative started by Dimon, Bezos and Buffett as an effort to lower healthcare costs by collectively bargaining with insurers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
But now, it had shuttered all but the main tavern hall and several rooms for solitary vagrants.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
Adoption of e-readers like the Kindle and Kobo didn’t replace physical books; and despite the shuttering of mass-market chains like Borders, Waldenbooks and B. Dalton, the last 30 years have seen a reading boom.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
“There is no evidence that the Board took account of its full range of statutory obligations in determining that a wholesale shuttering of the Kennedy Center was appropriate,” Cooper wrote.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
The shuttering comes as airlines grapple with the impact of the Iran crisis on fuel prices and consumer sentiment.
From MarketWatch ● May 2, 2026
After shuttering her decade-old, hot-pink, plus-size resale shop, the Plus Bus, in Highland Park last fall, she thought paring down her store’s stock and slightly expanding its sizing could save her business.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
The Sun dipped and vanished, and as if at the shuttering of a lamp, black night fell.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.