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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"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
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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:
You could skulk back to the Other Place.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 29, 2024
Late winter sunlight casts long shadows from workers crossing the parking lot, where stray cats skulk among the cars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2024
It’s a classic safari moment: A lion stands over a fresh carcass while hyenas skulk at the periphery, heads low.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 8, 2024
She has to do her work at night and skulk around in the darkness.
From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2023
I wait until the three of them return to Owen’s room to tear it apart again, then skulk out the back door.
From "Every Day" by David Levithan
Then Connor skulks in to query Mencken on the ambassadorship he was expecting.
From Salon ● May 22, 2023
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 slumped young man in a gray hoodie skulks through the double doors and collapses into a chair across the room.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 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
They were MTV staples for grimy videos like “Breathe” and “Firestarter,” where the dual-mohawked singer/dancer Keith Flint skulked around an empty subway tunnel, sneering in kohl eyeliner and an American flag sweater.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2025
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 the gate, she skulked; she felt like a thief.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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
“Something in the Dirt” is one of those weird little surprises sometimes found skulking in the crannies of mainstream film festivals, slippery and screwy and impossible to categorize.
From New York Times ● Nov. 3, 2022
This scenario rarely generates much drama, even with the menacing Jonas skulking about and various life-threatening dangers lurking in the wildness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2022
The dragons were no larger than the scrawny cats she had once seen skulking along the walls of Magister II- lyrio's estate in Pentos . . . until they unfolded their wings.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
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.
