variants
or sheqel
plural shekels or shekalim
she-ˈkä-lim 
or shekelim
shē-ˈkā-lim
or sheqalim
she-ˈkä-lim
or shekelim
shē-ˈkā-lim
or sheqalim
she-ˈkä-lim
1
a
: any of various ancient units of weight
especially
: a Hebrew unit equal to about 252 grains troy
b
: a unit of value based on a shekel weight of gold or silver
2
: a coin weighing one shekel
3
shekels plural, informal
: money
… making boxing history in the ring in New York, Chicago and wherever else fans … were willing to unburden themselves of substantial sums of shekels for the pleasure of seeing two guys vent their nastiness on each other.—
Pete Coutros
Pete Coutros4
the basic monetary unit of Israel see Money Table
Synonyms
Examples of shekel in a Sentence
if I had the shekels, I'd be first in line to buy one of the new vehicles
Recent Examples on the Web
Earlier this year, Amir Yaron, the governor of Israel’s central bank, warned that the war is expected to cost Israel up to 253 billion Israeli shekels ($67 billion) between 2023 and 2025, Israeli media reported.
—Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN, 24 Sep. 2024
Oil prices are up since Wednesday morning and Israel’s shekel is heading for its worst week in more than four years.
—Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 2 Aug. 2024
The shekel fell for a sixth straight day on Monday to 3.84 per dollar as of 9:10 a.m. in Tel Aviv, its weakest level since November.
—Amanda Loudin, Fortune, 5 Aug. 2024
The shekel weakened to head for its worst week since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas in October.
—Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 31 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for shekel 
Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN, 24 Sep. 2024
Oil prices are up since Wednesday morning and Israel’s shekel is heading for its worst week in more than four years.
—Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 2 Aug. 2024
The shekel fell for a sixth straight day on Monday to 3.84 per dollar as of 9:10 a.m. in Tel Aviv, its weakest level since November.
—Amanda Loudin, Fortune, 5 Aug. 2024
The shekel weakened to head for its worst week since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas in October.
—Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 31 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for shekel
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shekel.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Shekel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shekel. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
shekel
noun
shek·el
ˈshek-əl
1
: an ancient unit of weight or value
especially
: a Hebrew unit equal to about 252 grains troy (about 16.3 grams)
2
: a coin weighing one shekel
3
: the basic unit of money of Israel
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