Definitions
UK
#1·Apr 27, 2026UK
Easily frightened; timid.
He is very shy with strangers.
Origin: From , from , from , from . Cognate with , , ,. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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UK
#2·Apr 27, 2026UK
Reserved; disinclined to familiar approach.
Graham Norton: But the people coming up to you now, like the Americans, well, you know, the Americans, they're not shy, the Americans. / Maggie Smith: No. Well, no but I don't go anywhere where really they can get at me. It's usually in …
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UK
#3·Apr 27, 2026UK
Cautious; wary; suspicious.
Princes are, by wisdom of state, somewhat shy of their successors.
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Other words near "shy" (S)
shurely shome mishtakeShuric scanshutdownshut one's gobshuttanceshut up shopshypoosiasiamsiam diusiansiao
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Semantically related
- timorsome79%
(Scotland, dated) Easily frightened; timorous.
- fraidy70%
(US, childish) Cowardly.
- timorsome67%
A dated Scottish adjective meaning easily frightened or timid, equivalent to timorous in standard English. The -some suffix was a productive adjective-forming element in older Scots, as in frolicsome, gruesome. Now archaic and mainly encountered in 19th-century Scottish literature.