scaredy-cat
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What does scaredy-cat mean? A scaredy-cat is a person who is easily frightened. Scaredy-cat is very informal and is most often used by children. It is synonymous with fraidy-cat. Example: He won’t go into the haunted house because he’s a scaredy-cat.
Etymology
Origin of scaredy-cat
First recorded in 1930–35; scared ( def. ) + -y 2 + cat ( def. ) (in the slang sense “person, man”)
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.
A few of her picks include stencils for a fairy house, haunted house and a scaredy cat.
From Salon • Oct. 30, 2025
Next, he has voiced an unnamed Disney+ show, and will be in horror film The Queen Mary, starring Alice Eve, although he admits he's "a bit of a scaredy cat" and prefers thrillers.
From BBC • Dec. 1, 2022
As Becky and Hunter’s brushes with death compounded, I kept flattening myself into my seat like a literal scaredy cat.
From New York Times • Aug. 11, 2022
“I don’t want to always walk around like a scaredy cat, but then on the other hand, with this immune condition I have, I don’t want to take any chances.”
From Washington Post • May 17, 2022
Sticky, who happened to consider himself a prime specimen of scaredy cat, moved on without comment.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
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.
