shy

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“
Tommy was known as the shy, quiet type, but was well liked by everyone who knew him.

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Definitions (49)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (15)

  1. adjective Easily startled; timid.
  2. adjective Drawing back from contact or familiarity with others; retiring or reserved.
  3. adjective Marked by reserve or diffidence: a shy glance.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (24)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

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Examples (50)

  • Of these, I may say that the cocoanut-shy was the most profitable, although we had made up our minds this year that the fortune-telling must be made a great success. —  The Saltmarsh Murders - Gladys Mitchell - Bradley 04 - 1945
  • Normally publicity-shy, the agency invited a Times reporter and photographer to witness the plutonium recovery.
  • They remember Cameron Terhune as a shy, awkward, lanky kid who was never violent and always polite even when he did something wrong. —  The Modesto Bee: Front
  • Your next lesson in eye contact for the shy is to practice on a real-life sexy human, in a conversation. —  open source sex
  • Tommy was known as the shy, quiet type, but was well liked by everyone who knew him. —  News1130.com
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

timid ·  gentle ·  nervous ·  sad ·  awkward ·  thoughtful ·  cautious

Used in the same contextWord Family

shy:   shied ·  shying ·  shies
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (6)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English schey, from Old English scēoh.
  2. Perhaps from shy1.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. Early modern English also shie; Scots skey, skeigh; from Middle English *shey, schey, also skey, skygg (from Swedish), earlier sceouh, shy, timid, scrupulous, from Anglo-Saxon sceóh =D. schuw =Middle Low German schuwe =Old High German *scioh, Middle High German schiech (German scheu, after the verb and noun) =Swedish skygg, dial. sky =Danish sky, shy, timid, skittish. Hence shy, v. From Old High German comes Italian schivo =Spanish esquivo, shy.
  2. Not found in Middle English (?); =Middle Dutch schuwen, schouwen, Dutch schuwen =Middle Low German schuwen, Low German schuwen, schouen =Old High German sciuhen, scūhen, Middle High German schiuhen, schiuwen, German scheuchen, scheuen, get out of the way, avoid, shun, =Swedish skygga =Danish sky; from the adjective Hence ult. (through Old French from Old High German) eschew.
  3. from shy, v.
  4. Also shie; prob. another use of shy, v., but evidence is lacking, the word shy in this sense being of provincial origin and still mainly colloq. or slang.
 

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/ʃai/
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