skulk
Americanverb (used without object)
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skulks,
present (3rd person singular)
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skulked,
past participle, past
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skulking
present participle
noun
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a person who skulks.
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a pack or group of foxes.
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Rare. an act or instance of skulking.
verb
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to move stealthily so as to avoid notice
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to lie in hiding; lurk
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to shirk duty or evade responsibilities; malinger
noun
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a person who skulks
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obsolete a pack of foxes or other animals that creep about stealthily
Synonym Usage
See lurk.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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skulksimple
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skulkssimple
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have skulkedperfect
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has skulkedperfect
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am skulkingprogressive
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are skulkingprogressive
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is skulkingprogressive
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have been skulkingperfect progressive
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has been skulkingperfect progressive
Past
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skulkedsimple
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had skulkedperfect
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was skulkingprogressive
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were skulkingprogressive
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had been skulkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of skulk
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English, from Scandinavian (not in Old Norse ); compare Danish, Norwegian skulke, Swedish skolka “to play hooky”
Explanation
Skulking is cowardly. It means hiding out, either because you're trying to pull something off in secret, or because you're trying to get out of doing something you're supposed to be doing. If you cut school, it makes sense to do it in the style of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and enjoy yourself. Will the punishment be worse than if you skulk around town, avoiding teachers and people your parents know, not doing anything you really want to do? In spy movies, there are always bad guys in hotel lobbies, skulking about, hiding behind open newspapers.
Vocabulary lists containing skulk
Animal Farm
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Beowulf
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Matilda
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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:
So what if an NFL prospect turned LSU player has to skulk back to the Cleveland Browns?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
You could skulk back to the Other Place.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 29, 2024
“If they’re gonna be engaged in skullduggery, you need someone that they’ve got to skulk around,” Schaffer says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 18, 2024
She has to do her work at night and skulk around in the darkness.
From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2023
The memory tried to skulk into my head, but with Anna May beside me, I easily pushed it out.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
Finally, the president of the United States skulks through the doors of Pudong International Airport, where tens of thousands of Chinese people are waiting for him.
From Slate ● Jan. 25, 2020
The occasional car skulks by on the leafy street outside.
From New York Times ● Apr. 11, 2019
A loaded orphan who lives in a giant keep above a mining town, Robin spends his time dressing up as a thief and perfecting his “Assassin’s Creed” cosplay as he skulks around the local barns.
From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2018
Thersites skulks away, silenced, his Iliadic cameo at an end—but his long literary career as self-appointed flayer of heroic vanities is just beginning.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 9, 2016
I push back my chair so suddenly that Boomer startles and skulks away upstairs.
From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish
Defector Brooks Koepka skulked back to the PGA Tour, accepting penalties for going astray.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
Unlike earlier generations of royals who skulked in and out of the hospital alone, Charles left his recent treatment with Camilla by his side, providing the support most people would expect from their spouses.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 14, 2024
On his first day, as he skulked around the corridors, trying to avoid being recognised, John Holmes, the head of security, walked straight past him.
From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2020
At Other, though, I skulked, soaking up the sounds but keeping resolutely shtum, staying for ages then leaving with just freesheets and flyers, usually.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 26, 2020
Whether Richard Parker skulked up in masterly tiger fashion before landing upon them in a thunder of roaring, or slouched by indifferently, it was all the same to them.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
They and the other dinosaurs — a T. rex, an armored ankylosaurus, a sight-gag-worthy giant snake — adapt to the 20th century as comfortably as coyotes, skulking through backyards in search of prey.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
The main way I die is at the hands of the simulated antagonist, who is skulking somewhere in the ductwork.
From Slate ● Apr. 29, 2023
The ending is a page turner as Wels describes Garfield’s last days alive, oblivious to Guiteau skulking in the shadows.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 2, 2023
Without looking too hard we spotted white-tailed deer behind the trees, bright red cardinals flitting about and even a gray fox skulking by.
From New York Times ● Sep. 7, 2022
Vernon Dursley had entered the room, Petunia at his shoulder, and Dudley skulking behind them both.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
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.
