SKITTISH DEFINITIONS - 9 definitions found
skittish adj 1: unpredictably excitable (especially of horses) [syn: skittish, flighty, spooky, nervous] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003) skittish adjective Etymology: Middle English, from skit- (probably from Old Norse skyt-) + -ish Date: 15th century 1. a. lively or frisky in action ; capricious b. variable, fluctuating 2. easily frightened ; restive <a skittish horse> 3. a. coy, bashful b. marked by extreme caution ; wary <skittish investors> • skittishly adverb • skittishness noun Oxford English Reference Dictionary
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner\'s English Dictionary skittish 1. If you describe a person or animal as skittish, you mean they are easily made frightened or excited. The declining dollar gave heart to skittish investors. = nervous ADJ 2. Someone who is skittish does not concentrate on anything or take life very seriously. ...his relentlessly skittish sense of humour. ADJ English Explanatory Dictionary skittish ˈskɪtɪʃ adj. 1 lively, playful. 2 (of a horse etc.) nervous, inclined to shy, fidgety. øøskittishly adv. skittishness n. [ME, perh. formed as SKIT(1)] Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Skittish \Skit"tish\, a. [See Skit, v. t.] 1. Easily frightened; timorous; shy; untrustworthy; as, a skittish colt. ``A restiff, skittish jade.'' --L'Estrange. 2. Wanton; restive; freakish; volatile; changeable; fickle. ``Skittish Fortune's hall.'' --Shak. -- Skit"tish*ly, adv. -- Skit"tish*ness, n. Soule\'s Dictionary of English Synonyms skittish a. 1. Shy (as a horse), timid, timorous, easily frightened. 2. Hasty, volatile, wanton. 3. Changeable, inconstant, fickle. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 128 Moby Thesaurus words for "skittish": agitable, allergic, anaphylactic, animated, antic, bashful, capersome, changeable, coltish, combustible, confused, conscious, coquettish, cowardly, coy, delicate, demure, diffident, dizzy, edgy, emotional, emotionally unstable, empathetic, empathic, empty-headed, eruptive, excitable, explosive, exuberant, faddish, fearful, fearing, fearsome, fickle, flighty, flirtatious, frisky, frivolous, frolicsome, full of beans, gamesome, gay, giddy, goosy, harebrained, hearty, high-mettled, high-spirited, high-strung, highly emotional, hyperesthetic, hyperpathic, hypersensitive, in fear, inarticulate, inconstant, inflammable, irascible, irresponsible, irritable, itchy, jumpy, light, light-headed, lively, mercurial, mettlesome, mousy, nervous, overrefined, oversensible, oversensitive, overtender, passible, perturbable, playful, prickly, quicksilver, rabbity, rattlebrained, refined, responsive, restive, rollicking, rollicksome, rompish, scary, scatterbrained, self-conscious, sensitive, shaky, shamefaced, shamefast, shivery, shrinking, shy, skittery, spirited, sportive, sprightly, stammering, startlish, supersensitive, sympathetic, tactful, tender, tetchy, thin-skinned, ticklish, timid, timorous, touchy, toying, trembling, tremulous, trepidant, trigger-happy, undependable, unpredictable, unreliable, vacillating, versatile, vital, vivacious, volatile, volcanic, zestful, zippy |
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