shy
1 Americanadjective
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- Antonyms:
- forward
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easily frightened away; timid.
- Antonyms:
- trusting
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suspicious, distrustful, or wary (often used in combination): The studio made a huge mistake when they cast a horse-shy actor in the cowboy role.
I am a bit shy of that sort of person.
The studio made a huge mistake when they cast a horse-shy actor in the cowboy role.
This particular inventor was known to be media-shy.
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She’s never been shy about asking to speak to the manager when she’s unhappy with customer service.
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shy of funds.
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short of a full amount or number; scant: He's pretty tall—just an inch shy of six feet.
We're still a few dollars shy of our goal.
He's pretty tall—just an inch shy of six feet.
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(in poker) indebted to the pot.
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not bearing or breeding freely, as plants or animals.
verb (used without object)
noun
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shies
plural
idioms
verb (used with or without object)
noun
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shies
plural
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a quick, sudden throw.
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Informal.
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a gibe or sneer.
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a try.
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adjective
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not at ease in the company of others
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easily frightened; timid
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(often foll by of) watchful or wary
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poker (of a player) without enough money to back his bet
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(of plants and animals) not breeding or producing offspring freely
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informal (foll by of) short (of)
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(in combination) showing reluctance or disinclination
workshy
verb
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to move suddenly, as from fear
the horse shied at the snake in the road
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to draw back; recoil
noun
verb
noun
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a quick throw
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informal a gibe
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informal an attempt; experiment
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short for cockshy
Synonym Usage
Shy, bashful, diffident imply a manner that shows discomfort or lack of confidence in association with others. Shy implies a constitutional shrinking from contact or close association with others, together with a wish to escape notice: shy and retiring. Bashful suggests timidity about meeting others, and trepidation and awkward behavior when brought into prominence or notice: a bashful child. Diffident emphasizes self-distrust, fear of censure, failure, etc., and a hesitant, tentative manner as a consequence: a diffident approach to a touchy subject.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of shy1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English (adjective) schei, sheu, sheouh “easily startled,” Old English scēoh “timid, fearful, shy”; cognate with Middle High German schiech; akin to Dutch schuw, German scheu; cf. eschew
Origin of shy2
First recorded in 1780–90; origin uncertain
Explanation
Making small talk is not much fun for a shy person. Shy means being nervous or reserved around other people, especially in a social situation. Someone who's extremely shy might blush or stammer when talking to a group of people. Shy can also mean "tending to avoid," like when someone is "camera shy," or if they "shy away" from being straightforward. The Old English root scēoh, "easily frightened," originally only referred to a horse, and came from a Germanic root meaning "scare."
Vocabulary lists containing shy
Scrabble: Words with no Vowels
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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:
Net sales rose to $25.96 billion from $23.96 billion, but came in shy of analyst forecasts of a rise to $26.13 billion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
"I used to be quiet and shy, but now I feel like I'm in a really good place," she said.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Cook the pasta: Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil and cook the pasta until just shy of al dente.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
You don’t seem the kind of couple to shy away from market returns.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 8, 2026
I tell them about a girl who was just like me: shy, quiet, innocent.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
If anything, the competition probably shies away from Edwards.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
If Levick shies away from generalization, he too is a composer not easily pinned down.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2025
Vimal shies away from the word "trailblazer" when people talk about what he's achieved already, as well as what's to come.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2024
Cher, musical icon and 2024 inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, never shies away from voicing an opinion.
From Salon ● May 2, 2024
The mind shies away from a head tax, a facility tax.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
“Mabel 2 is much shier and has more wildness in her,” so she was used in the nervous bird scenes early on.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2025
“I just loved it. It was a natural fit. I think it’s good for any child, to be honest, for confidence. I was on the shier side.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2025
Toula worked in my shier stage of life.
From Time Magazine Archive
There effects are flung at the spectator's head like balls at a cocoanut; if they fail to register a hit it is the fault of the shier, not of the nut.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, 1920-07-28 by Various
They were much shier than the hartebeest and zebra, and upon seeing our approach would be the first to run away.
From In Africa Hunting Adventures in the Big Game Country by John T. McCutcheon
Tell them how excited you are for them to meet your cousin, or make them the hero by asking them to check on the shiest person at the soiree.
From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2021
"But also, the girls and young women themselves, since it's likely the shiest and least experienced young women who are the victims of such encounters, would be loath to discuss them."
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2021
The shiest of the litter, he rested his head on Katt’s chest within moments of meeting her and quickly fell asleep.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 28, 2021
One of his closest friends among the Ducks, center Jake Hanson, once called Herbert “the shiest dude I’ve ever met.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2020
This resentful look is deceptive, however, for the bird is the shiest creature imaginable.
From Argentine Ornithology, Volume I (of 2) A descriptive catalogue of the birds of the Argentine Republic. by W. H. (William Henry) Hudson
However, Cave says that where he differs most from Bunny is when it comes to women as he's "much shyer around women".
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2025
Often unnoticed by drivers, these structures help shyer animals move across the landscape.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 31, 2024
The looking task yielded more nuanced results, indicating that shyer children were occasionally more accurate but less likely to respond.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2023
She wanted a project that traded on more than Everett’s outrageousness, that also acknowledged the shyer, more guarded woman that she is in her offstage life.
From New York Times ● Jan. 14, 2022
“Hualpa has a nice face, but he never speaks with me. He is shyer than a deer. Cachi is not as handsome, but his eyes smile when he looks at me,” she would explain.
From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis
Domingo was a mama’s boy and the shyest of his siblings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026
And I kept thinking about my summer habit of roasting fruit in big weekly batches, how a stint in the oven could turn even the shyest berries into something plush and intense.
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2025
However, Louis said Parker does not shared his nerves: "With the bike helmet off, the shyest kid he'll ever meet but, bike helmet on, he's so confident."
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2024
Most of his teammates consider him one of the shyest players on Penn State’s roster.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 18, 2023
She was back to being the fourth Vanderbeeker, first-class worrier and the shyest kid on 141st Street.
From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser
He hasn’t shied away from his views since taking office.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
However, revenue from Robinhood’s cryptocurrency segment fell 38% to $100 million, as investors shied away from risky assets and focused more on artificial intelligence.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
Burnham has not shied away from clashing with the Premier League and football's authorities.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
"British Columbia has never shied away from taking on powerful corporations when their actions cause harm to people and communities," she added.
From Barron's ● Jul. 7, 2026
Rachel shied away from the mirror, her cheeks pink with embarrassment.
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
Like “Babe” and “Homeward Bound” before it, the film treats its younger audience with the respect and maturity they deserve, wading into heavy thematic territory without shying away from the bittersweet realities of death.
From Salon ● May 25, 2026
This year it expects to hit similar levels, partly to scoop up talent when others are shying away, said Bruce Buchanan, its co-founder and chief executive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
She went on to emphasise that the Berlinale "in particular is known for not shying away from political films, from films that have a real social angle".
From Barron's ● Feb. 14, 2026
American skiers Mikaela Shiffrin and Hunter Hess and other Milan-Cortina Olympic athletes aren’t shying away from talking about what’s going on in the United States.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2026
Evidently he thought that I was shying away from the "gonnegtion" mentioned at lunch, but I assured him he was wrong.
From " The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
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.
