Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To move stealthily or cautiously.
- v. Informal To act or proceed cautiously or timidly to avoid committing oneself.
Wiktionary
- v. intransitive To move silently, stealthily, or furtively.
- v. intransitive To act timidly or cautiously.
- v. intransitive To use euphemistic language or circumlocution.
WordNet 3.0
- v. to go stealthily or furtively
Etymologies
- From pussy (“feline”) + foot; because of the light and careful tread of cats. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Many political futures had been wrecked and wasted by ambitious politicians who tried to "pussyfoot" on this issue.”
“For the same reason that we continue to "pussyfoot" around in Iraq and Afghanistan ..”
“I don't see any reason to "pussyfoot" (to quote a famous Democrat racist, George Wallace).”
“The most popular were the "pussyfoot" (white of an egg, grenadine, lemon and orange juice) and the "Alexandra" (crème de cacao, grenadine, and cream).”
“•Don't pussyfoot around when it comes to exercise.”
USA Today: Experts offer summer slimming tips to lose 10 pounds
“You can't pussyfoot around it," Garvey said later.”
The Washington Post: John Garvey is inaugurated as Catholic University president
“She doesn't pussyfoot around with different techniques or try to tap into the latest trend.”
“After watching the Chimp and his crew operate with an iron fist for their first 6 yrs, it's difficult to watch Obama pussyfoot around the right wing.”
“Most romantic comedies pussyfoot around this idea before eventually putting the two people who obviously are right for each other together; Fogelman's script and Ficarra/Requa's movie instead use these frustrated longings as the fodder for richer comedy that ultimately speaks to the larger issues of love and commitment.”
The Huffington Post: Marshall Fine: HuffPost Review: Crazy, Stupid, Love
“KenBarlow didn't pussyfoot around: So many adults now work so very, very hard to extract so much money from so many young people.”
The Guardian: Readers' reviews: Postwar British cinema and Selena Gomez
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pussyfoot’.
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Dirty Words?
flange, shunt, dictum, angina, cunctator, mastication, spelunker, shiitake, rimshot, arsole, forebulge, fecund and 34 more...
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Fun Words
Words that are fun to say....
gobbledygook, jings, crivens, hullabaloo, wheech, brouhaha, pizzazz, harum-scarum, namby-pamby, pussyfoot, frippery, pitter-patter and 333 more...
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Compounds That Look Freakish
You know who you are, freakish compounds. Though very useful, some of these words just don't seem right together--or, their meanings are so far from what the two (or more) component words suggest t...
nightjar, bullfinch, grassquit, bananaquit, ovenbird, waxwing, stonechat, wheatear, bushtit, wrentit, starthroat, godwit and 158 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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Noah's Park
Hello, and Welcome™! Come and visit our most diverse land of our Animalesque™ adventures. Here at Noah's Park™ we have Virtually All You'd Ever Want To See™. An experience that is related to ani...
sheep's eyes, doe-eyed, cat-eyed, bug-eyed, cat's paw, black swan, leapfrog, menagerie, cold turkey, card shark, snail's pace, bull's eye and 362 more...
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Odd-Ball
Just plain fun to say and wonder about their origins.
rapscallion, ramahanukwanzmas, cockamamie, nincompoop, hemidemisemiquaver, antiinterdenomina..., cattywampus, ragamuffin, tatterdemalion, blunderbuss, brobdingnagian, tintinnabulation and 127 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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One more switchback
Tip of the hat to Stephen, who always tells me "only one more switchback" as we go up the trail. Usually it is a lie, but it still works!
switchback, heavens to murgat..., prosody, catarrh, ice storm, existential, predicament, intermingle, comingle, stolid, zeitgeist, bibliophage and 146 more...
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beastly verbs
someone must already have this list?
squirrel away, worm it out of so..., pony up, fish for compliments, weasel out, badger, outfox, horse around, hound, cow, chicken out, goose and 99 more...
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Animalia Wordia
Words or short phrases with animal names in them. Since I already have a dedicated list for 'monkey' words I shall leave them out of this one for the moment.
paper tiger, pigeon-hearted, lion-hearted, sacred cow, chicken heart, fraidy cat, scaredy-cat, snake oil, can of worms, snake pit, rat's nest, stool pigeon and 114 more...
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A Dalliance of Dahlias
For more flower fun, see these lists:
Rose words by mollusque
Rose varieties by mollusque
Tulip Names I
Tulip Names II: You Know My Name
A Myriad of Iriia la mode, ace o' hearts, acclimation, adhesion, admirable, adorable you, advance, affirmed, after glow, agricola, alabama melody, alabaster queen and 1152 more...
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Words that sound dirty, but aren't
Inspired by a Candid Camera sketch.
horehound, fugue, ramrod, jocular, thespian, titmouse, masticate, pussyfoot, angina, booby, formicate, hoar and 64 more...
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happy hour
martini, bellini, mimosa, beer, seabreeze, cosmopolitan, manhattan, gin, bourbon, rum, tequila, amaretto and 71 more...
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Feline words -- meow!
felis domesticus, felis catus, felidae, bastet, sphinx, pussy, puss, pussycat, felinophile, felicide, felinity, philofelinish and 19 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for pussyfoot.
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