Love-shy

adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A person, especially a man, who is ineffectual at courtship. no-plural, rare
Adjective
  1. 1
    Ineffectual at courtship or attaining sexual intercourse.

Synonyms

All synonyms
blue-ballerincelsexually frustrated

Etymology

From love + shy. Attributed to late sociologist Brian G. Gilmartin.

Related phrases

love-shyness

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.