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
idioms
verb (used with or without object)
noun
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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:
Rushing hammered the grooved fastball to left-center field, just shy of the Citizens Bank Park concourse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Shares of Imax were up nearly 12% on Thursday and were trading at just shy of $44.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
Continued high oil and gas prices offered a boost to earnings while enabling the company to cut its net debt by $3.3 billion, bringing it down to just shy of $20 billion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
The Boston Red Sox remained one win shy of matching their team-record longest win streak, set in 1946, after their Major League Baseball game against Baltimore was rained out on Tuesday.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
He snaps and spins away from the water, hands on his hips, and suddenly, Sandy Sanders isn’t so shy anymore.
From "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender
The Northamptonshire politician said it had been a "pleasure" to work with Streeting, who "never shies away from the right principled decision, even in difficult times".
From BBC ● May 15, 2026
As indelible as the lyrics of “Born to Run” are, Springsteen shies away from talk of artistry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2025
Noem invoked none of those magic buzz words, which the national security regime hardly shies away from levying in leak cases.
From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2025
Which is not to say the new “Frasier” shies away from what Grammer calls “at least college-level” discourse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2024
“He shies a bit on his right side.”
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
“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
This is a much shier bird than P. humii.
From The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 by Hume, Allan Octavian
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 McCutcheon, John T.
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 Hudson, W. H. (William Henry)
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
Slate, a bit shyer and more reserved than you would expect, is still contemplating her post-pandemic life.
From New York Times ● Sep. 5, 2021
Marsha answered the door, while Esther ducked around a corner, shyer in person than I’d expected.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2019
I feel shyer standing face-to-face than I would if we were running side by side.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
Domingo was a mama’s boy and the shyest of his siblings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026
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
In an Instagram post, Dunham called Mr. Scolari “the shyest extrovert, the most dramatic comedian, the most humble icon.”
From Washington Post ● Oct. 22, 2021
The shyest of the three girls, she was slow to take to Alpharetta.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
The president has shied away from restrictions on Chinese companies while trade negotiations continue and praised both Apple and Micron for investing in the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
Burnham has not shied away from clashing with the Premier League and football's authorities.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
The company, which had long shied away from big acquisitions, ultimately lost that deal, and its stock has continued to decline.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
In the past, many housing developers have shied away from building affordable housing because assembling the subsidies needed to make construction profitable is challenging.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
You shied away from nothing, fell into a thorn-bush and frightened a cat as badly as it frightened you.
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
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
Cruz isn't shying away from his family connections.
From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2026
Nor is Venezi shying away from the fight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 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
At first he would not waken, until, with a jerk of his head, he sat up, shying from Jonathan’s touch.
From "The Fighting Ground" by Avi
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.
