Meaning & use
come out of shell
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Meaning
phraseintransitivefigurative
To become more outgoing and confident, especially after being shy or reserved.
Grammar: Often used with a possessive adjective: come out of your/his/her shell. The phrase is figurative; the 'shell' represents shyness.
Patterns
- come out of your shell
- come out of his shell
- come out of her shell
- come out of one's shell
After joining the drama club, she really came out of her shell.
He was very quiet at first, but he eventually came out of his shell.
Traveling alone helped me come out of my shell.
Common combinations
- come out of your shell
- You need to come out of your shell and make some friends.
- help someone come out of their shell
- The teacher helped him come out of his shell.
- slowly come out of your shell
- She slowly came out of her shell during the semester.
Synonyms and how they differ
- open up
- Open up means to start talking more freely about feelings; come out of your shell is broader, meaning to become more social and confident.
- become more outgoing
- This is a literal phrase; come out of your shell is an idiom with a similar meaning but a more vivid image.
Opposites
Word family
- shell noun
- The hard outer covering of an animal, or a protective barrier.
Commonly confused: come out of shell or come out of the closet?
come out of shell vs come out of the closet
Come out of the closet means to reveal that you are LGBTQ+. It is not the same as coming out of your shell, which is about shyness.
Practice
What does 'come out of your shell' mean?
Choose one answer.
The idiom means to become more outgoing and less shy. Option 1 is too literal; option 3 is the opposite; option 4 is the literal meaning of the words but not the idiom.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “come out of shell”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.