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:
Kyle Tucker powered the Dodgers’ offense, finishing a double shy of the cycle while recording a season-high five RBIs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026
Many investors will shy away from a discretionary industry such as restaurants, as people are facing so much cost pressure.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
El-Sayed, for example, used to shy away from the parallel.
From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2026
Thankfully, the book also does not shy away from some serious A-list name-dropping.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
The shy humor had fallen off his face.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
"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
Neither shies away from talking about burnout, nor the many reasons why people leave these professions, but they both still manage to mix pragmatism with optimism.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 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
No doubt you are peacefully settled on your ancestral estate with only a few months and a little patience between you and your grandfather’s shier.
From The House of a Thousand Candles by Meredith Nicholson
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
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
The U.S. audience was shyer and more naïve than her Canadian viewers, Ms. Johanson told Mireya Navarro of The New York Times in 2004; they seemed to lack basic knowledge.
From New York Times ● Jul. 7, 2023
A duet is a great opportunity for a shyer person to sing without having to be the complete center of attention.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2023
“This is Melissa. She’s a bit shyer than I am.”
From "George" by Alex Gino
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
The shyest of the three girls, she was slow to take to Alpharetta.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
Eric has never shied away from expressing his opinions on the state of high school sports and how they can be improved.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026
Still, she never shied away from claiming her mountain identity; she never tried to change herself.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
And in 2024, a host of figures who’d previously shied away from the president loudly and proudly got on board, from Vance to entertainment figures like Joe Rogan.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026
Burnham has not shied away from clashing with the Premier League and football's authorities.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
When a big lilac bush threw leaf patterns on the walk ahead of us, Grandma shied like a horse.
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
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
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
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
His mind, as though shying away from something, seemed unable to concentrate.
From "1984" by George Orwell
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.
