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
myPerspectives 6.2
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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:
DesRosiers says the October performance is just shy of the sales posted in October of 2017 – or highest total on record for that particular month.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
He will continue playing for Saudi club Al-Nassr and is 15 shy of 1,000 career goals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
At the start of tonight, the energy and anxiety in my home in east Austin, just shy of ten miles from where James Talarico’s watch party is taking place, was high.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2026
London City Lionesses are a club who do things differently and, backed by US billionaire Michele Kang, they are not shy to disrupt the current order.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
He was too shy, too scrawny, too awkward.
From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly
"He shies away from the cameras, he doesn't address the nation at times and moments when people might expect him to," said Ashish Pradhan of the International Crisis Group.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
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
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
But in addition it must have purpose or the human conscience shies away from it.
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
This is a much shier bird than P. humii.
From The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 by Allan Octavian Hume
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
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
They’re shyer about making judgments about medical practice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2021
A man’s stiff stride reminds her of “how some of her shyer students crossed the room to use the pencil sharpener.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 13, 2021
Lysa helped their maester nurse him,- she had been softer and shyer in those days.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
Domingo was a mama’s boy and the shyest of his siblings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026
"I was probably the shyest of the three."
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2025
Most of his teammates consider him one of the shyest players on Penn State’s roster.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 18, 2023
It's the kind of question that can make your blood boil, raise your voice a few octaves higher than you knew possible, and summon strong opinions from even the shyest snacker in your friend group.
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2021
“His interest was so whole-hearted and obvious that the shyest, most tongue-tied adventurer found himself speaking with entire freedom,” Kermit wrote.
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
McDonald’s detailed the plans as it works to overhaul its menu, declutter its value offerings and hold on to customers who are juggling higher costs of living and have shied away from dining out.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026
Yet investors haven’t shied away: HCA now trades at about 15 times forward earnings and Tenet at 13 times, both above their five-year averages, according to FactSet data.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
Holmes herself shied from the public eye, making the surprise release of the documentary "You Can See Everything" all the more astonishing when it debuted to high praise at the Telluride Film Festival in September.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
Rojas has shied away from a full farewell tour but is contemplating returning after the season and transitioning into a player development role.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
The gulls shied a few feet, then returned to picking through the grass.
From "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen
Becerra has rarely highlighted his latinidad while never shying away from his background as the child of Mexican immigrants.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
It’s been a big topic, and certainly one that I’m not shying away from.
From Salon ● Apr. 27, 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
Crude oil futures rose on Wednesday, extending a move off lows as traders assess the likelihood the U.S. will attack oil producer Iran as well as the impact of India shying away from Russian oil.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 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
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
