Shakers

British  

/ ˈʃeɪkəz /

plural noun

1. an American millenarian sect, founded in 1747 as an offshoot of the Quakers, given to ecstatic shaking, advocating celibacy for its members, and practising common ownership of property

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Shakers Cultural  

1. A religious group that rose in America in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Shakers derived their name from a dance that was part of their religious ceremony. They lived in small, tightly knit communities and observed celibacy.

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Discover More

Shaker furniture is renowned for its simplicity, strength, and beauty.

Example Sentences

The Shakers, with their signature spare style, have had an outsize impact on material culture, considering their numbers—a peak estimated at 6,000 members in the mid-19th century—and segregation from the world.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026

After winning an Oscar for “The Brutalist,” the English composer takes on a musical about the founder of the Shakers — a close collaboration with Amanda Seyfried.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2026

Intricate group choreography finds the Shakers swaying and stretching in tandem as if their hands were reaching up to pull God closer to Earth — or the congregation closer to Heaven.

From Salon • Dec. 27, 2025

If the Shakers have a lasting cultural legacy, it is their music — most famously “Simple Gifts,” the uplifting spiritual Aaron Copland immortalized in his ballet “Appalachian Spring.”

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 24, 2025

“There aren’t any Shakers in Shaker Heights,” he said.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng