Shy

//ʃaɪ//

Synonyms for "shy" (448 found)

Ranked by relevance and common usage.

Closest matches (90)

Strong matches (134)

disinclined dissent distrustful dodge double doubtful doubting draw aside draw back draw in dubious duck ease off edge off elude elusion embryonic empty of equivocate equivocation

Show 98 more words

Adjective(4 words)

distant embarrassed hesitant meticulous

Verb(12 words)

dump feck fling heave hield hoy huck hurl hurtle jerk launch lob

Related words (224)

missing mistrustful mistrusting modest mousy move aside mystify needing nervous neutrality nitpick nonintervention noninvolvement obscure out of out of pocket palter panic parry part

Show 168 more words

partial pass patchy pause peg pelt pick nits pitch pitchfork ponder pot potshot prevaricate prevention pull pull away pull back pull in pull out pullback pullout pussyfoot put put off put the shot pyrrhonic quail qualmish questioning quibble rabbity recoil reel reel back refraining reluctant reserved reticent retiring retract retreat runaround scant scant of scanty scarce scary scrappy screwball scrimpy scruple scrupulous secluded self-conscious self-distrustful self-effacing serve service shaky shamefaced shamefast sheepish sheer off shift shift off shilly shally shilly-shally shivery short short of shot put shove aside shrink shrink back shrinking shuffle shun shunning shunt shy at shy away shy of shy off side sidestep sideswipe sidetrack sidle sinker skedaddle skeptical sketchy skimpy skittery skittish slender sling sling at slip snap spitball split hairs squeamish stammering stampede start start aside start back startle startlish steer clear of step aside stick stick at stickle stickling stop to consider straddle the fence strain strain at stumble suspecting suspicious swerve switch tentative tergiversate think twice think twice about throw throw at tilt timid timorous toss toss at trembling tremulous trepidant trigger happy trigger-happy turn aside turn away turn back unassertive unassured unblessed with uncertain underdeveloped undeveloped uneager unpossessed of untrusting unwilling veer veer off voiceless void void of wanting ward off waver weasel weasel out wince withdraw yield zigzag

Adjective(12 words)

mousy passive prudent quiet reclusive retiring shamefast sheep-faced sheepish submissive timid uncommunicative

Verb(22 words)

peck peg pick pitch precipitate project quoit shy away skew slight sling start startle thrill throw toss traject warp whang whip

Show 2 more words

whop wing

Adjective(2 words)

timid unsure

Related word relations

OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.

10 relation types

More general

6 entries

jump loft start startle throw

Antonyms

3 entries

audacious bold brazen

Synonyms

1 entries

diffident

Related terms

9 entries

bashful cautious coy demure reserved shy person shyness timid wouldn't say boo to a goose

derived

40 entries

Shy-Drager syndrome bird-shy book-shy boy-shy call-shy camera-shy car-shy cat-shy coconut shy cover-shy crate shy of a load few cards shy of a full deck fight shy fight shy of girl-shy gun-shy

Showing 16 of 40 words.

has property

1 entries

blue

is a

1 entries

throw

manner of

2 entries

startle throw

related to

23 entries

approach aside avoid bashful calx cautious coy demure disinclined embarrassed familiar fling horse insufficient less reserved

Showing 16 of 23 words.

similar

5 entries

deficient insufficient wary

Translations

281 translations across 60 languages.

Arabic

4 entries

خَجُول adj (easily frightened)
خَجُول adj (reserved)
خَجِل adj (easily frightened)
مُوَرَّط adj (embarrassed)

Assamese

4 entries

লাজকুৰীয়া adj (easily frightened)
লাজুক adj (easily frightened)
লাজুকা adj (easily frightened)
লাজুকী adj (easily frightened)

Azerbaijani

1 entries

utancaq adj (reserved)

Belarusian

4 entries

бая́зны adj (easily frightened)
баязлі́вы adj (cautious)
нясме́лы adj (easily frightened)
палахлі́вы adj (easily frightened)

Bulgarian

4 entries

боязли́в adj (easily frightened)
недостигащ adj (short, less than)
плах adj (easily frightened)
предпазлив adj (cautious)

Catalan

3 entries

reservat adj (reserved)
tímid adj (easily frightened)
vergonyós adj (embarrassed)

Cherokee

1 entries

ᎤᏕᎰᏌᏘ adj (reserved)

Chinese Mandarin

4 entries

含蓄 adj (reserved)
害羞 adj (easily frightened)
尷尬 /尴尬 adj (embarrassed)
怕生 adj (reserved)

Czech

4 entries

bázlivý adj (easily frightened)
nesmělý adj (easily frightened)
o něco méně než adj (short, less than)
odměřený adj (reserved)

Danish

4 entries

genert adj (reserved)
kast noun (act of throwing)
kaste verb (to fling)
smide verb (to fling)

Dutch

4 entries

bedeesd adj (embarrassed)
beschroomd adj (embarrassed)
klein adj (short, less than)
schuchter adj (reserved)

Esperanto

1 entries

timema adj (easily frightened)

Finnish

4 entries

arka adj (easily frightened)
arka adj (cautious)
nolo adj (embarrassed)
ujo adj (reserved)

French

4 entries

embarrassé adj (embarrassed)
en moins adj (short, less than)
gêné adj (reserved)
prudent adj (cautious)

Galician

2 entries

medoso adj (easily frightened)
reservado adj (reserved)

Georgian

2 entries

მორცხვი adj (reserved)
ფრთხილი adj (cautious)

German

4 entries

scheu adj (easily frightened)
scheu adj (reserved)
schüchtern adj (easily frightened)
schüchtern adj (reserved)

Greek

3 entries

ντροπαλός adj (easily frightened)
ντροπαλός adj (reserved)
φοβητσιάρης adj (easily frightened)

Hebrew

2 entries

בַּיְשָׁן adj (easily frightened)
בַּיְשָׁן adj (embarrassed)

Hungarian

4 entries

bátortalan adj (reserved)
feszélyezett adj (embarrassed)
feszélyezve érzi magát adj (embarrassed)
félszeg adj (reserved)

Icelandic

1 entries

feiminn adj (reserved)

Ingrian

2 entries

armolliin adj (reserved)
ujo adj (reserved)

Interlingua

1 entries

timide adj (reserved)

Irish

4 entries

coimhthíoch adj (reserved)
cotúil adj (reserved)
cúthail adj (reserved)
faiteach adj (easily frightened)

Italian

4 entries

meno adj (short, less than)
schivo adj (reserved)
timido adj (reserved)
adombrarsi verb (to jump back in fear)

Japanese

4 entries

人見知りする adj (reserved)
内気 adj (reserved)
寡黙 adj (reserved)
引っ込み思案 adj (reserved)

Jeju

2 entries

부치럽다 adj (reserved)
수좁다 adj (reserved)

Khiamniungan Naga

1 entries

mìam adj (embarrassed)

Khmer

1 entries

អៀន adj (reserved)

Korean

4 entries

낯가리다 adj (reserved)
부끄럽다 adj (reserved)
수줍다 adj (easily frightened)
수줍다 adj (reserved)

Ladino

2 entries

arrezistado adj (reserved)
entravado adj (reserved)

Latin

3 entries

pavidus adj (easily frightened)
timidus adj (easily frightened)
verēcundus adj (reserved)

Latvian

4 entries

bikls adj (easily frightened)
bikls adj (reserved)
bikls adj (embarrassed)
kautrīgs adj (easily frightened)

Lishana Deni

1 entries

נכופא adj (reserved)

Louisiana Creole

1 entries

timid adj (reserved)

Macedonian

1 entries

срамежлив adj (easily frightened)

Manx

1 entries

faitagh adj (easily frightened)

Marshallese

1 entries

jok adj (easily frightened)

Mongolian

4 entries

бишүүрхэх adj (reserved)
бүрэг adj (reserved)
ᠪᠢᠰᠢᠭᠦᠷᠬᠡᠬᠦ adj (reserved)
ᠪᠦᠷᠦᠭ adj (reserved)

Māori

3 entries

memeke adj (reserved)
pūihi adj (reserved)
whakakōkiri adj (reserved)

Norwegian

1 entries

sjenert adj (reserved)

Occitan

1 entries

timid adj (easily frightened)

Old English

2 entries

sċēoh adj (easily frightened)
sċēoh adj (reserved)

Ottoman Turkish

2 entries

اوتانغاچ adj (reserved)
محجوب adj (reserved)

Plautdietsch

2 entries

bescheiden adj (reserved)
bleed (nds) adj (easily frightened)

Polish

4 entries

bojaźliwy adj (easily frightened)
nieśmiały adj (easily frightened)
nieśmiały adj (reserved)
nieśmiały adj (cautious)

Portuguese

4 entries

assustado adj (easily frightened)
avergonhado adj (embarrassed)
cuidadoso adj (cautious)
envergonhado adj (embarrassed)

Romanian

4 entries

fricos adj (easily frightened)
jenat adj (embarrassed)
precaut adj (cautious)
prudent adj (cautious)

Russian

4 entries

боязли́вый adj (easily frightened)
боязли́вый adj (cautious)
засте́нчивый adj (easily frightened)
засте́нчивый adj (reserved)

Slovak

2 entries

nesmelý adj (easily frightened)
plachý adj (easily frightened)

Spanish

4 entries

reservado adj (reserved)
tímido adj (easily frightened)
tímido adj (cautious)
vergonzoso adj (embarrassed)

Swedish

4 entries

besvärad adj (embarrassed)
blyg adj (reserved)
försiktig adj (cautious)
knapp adj (short, less than)

Thai

1 entries

อาย adj (easily frightened)

Turkish

3 entries

mahcup adj (embarrassed)
utangaç adj (reserved)
ürkek adj (easily frightened)

Ukrainian

4 entries

боязки́й adj (easily frightened)
боязки́й adj (cautious)
несмі́лий adj (easily frightened)
полохли́вий adj (easily frightened)

Unami

2 entries

kwitayasi adj (reserved)
tëtpasi adj (easily frightened)

Vietnamese

3 entries

ngại adj (reserved)
nhát adj (easily frightened)
nhút nhát adj (easily frightened)

Welsh

2 entries

swil adj (easily frightened)
swil adj (reserved)

Winnebago

3 entries

hirošišik adj (easily frightened)
hirošišik adj (reserved)
hirošišik adj (cautious)

Yoruba

3 entries

onítìjú adj (reserved)
tijú adj (reserved)
tì adj (reserved)

Sample sentences

32 total sentences available.

Tatoeba + Wiktionary

She was very shy about her emergency problem, and asked the gynecologist to please examine her.

Source: tatoeba (20138)

Don't be shy about talking to the teacher; if you don't understand, use some initiative!

Source: tatoeba (25789)

Generally, Japanese people are shy.

Source: tatoeba (27316)

Bob was shy when he was a high school student.

Source: tatoeba (33192)

Showing 4 of 32 available sentences.

More for "shy"

Meaning Antonyms Sentences Word Type

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