Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use shifty in a sentence

14 example sentences · adjective

Shifty means subject to frequent changes in direction. Example: “He was a shifty character in a seedy bar, and I checked my wallet was still there after talking to him.”

Examples of shifty by meaning

adjectiveSubject to frequent changes in direction.

  • Off he raced, shuffling his bare feet through the hot, dry, shifty sand.1929, Henry Handel Richardson, Ultima Thule, New York: Norton, Part 2, Chapter 3, p. 145
  • His Navy was designed for shifty, aggressive action within the narrow East Indian waters.1942 February 23, “Dutchman's Chance”, in TIME, archived from the original on 07 Mar 2008
  • The Kelsos crowding their horses up against the wagon, bumping it, making things shake inside: everything going shifty, unsteady.2002, Guy Vanderhaeghe, chapter 17, in The Last Crossing, New York: Grove, page 190

adjectiveMoving from one object to another; not looking directly and steadily at the person with whom one is speaking.

  • His tinted glasses were not really opaque, but of a blue kind common enough, nor were the eyes behind them shifty, but regarded me steadily.1914, G. K. Chesterton, “The Head of Cæsar”, in The Wisdom of Father Brown, London: Cassell, published 1928, page 149
  • He was thin, unsure of himself, sweet-natured and shifty-eyed; and he was Lata’s favourite.1993, Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy, Boston: Little, Brown, Chapter 1.4, p. 10

adjectiveHaving the appearance of being dishonest, criminal, or unreliable.

  • He was a shifty character in a seedy bar, and I checked my wallet was still there after talking to him.
  • ‘I don’t trust him,’ he goes on. ‘He is shifty.1999, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 23, in Disgrace, New York: Viking, page 208

More sentences with shifty

  • His twelvish son is introduced as a pyromaniacal, foul-mouthed shifty operator.2003, Elliot Gertel, Over the Top Judaism, page 62. From the entry fourteenish
  • Step with my chain out, everyone shifty.2023 October 19, “Top 2” (track 13), in Chapter 16, performed by Clavish. From the entry pattern
  • They thought it might be seen as shifty or untrustworthy.2013, Janet Trewin, Presenting on TV and Radio: An insider's guide. From the entry beardism
  • Well, such cheap criticisms of the Bible are usually the fulsome garblings of ignorance, or the shifty device of prejudice.1992, J. Sidlow Baxter, Mark These Men: A Unique Look at Selected Men of the Bible, page 55. From the entry garbling
  • Ursula, raising her head, looked unflinchingly into Mina's shifty eyes.1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia…. From the entry unflinchingly
  • "Sussy" and "sus" are words used in the videogame Among Us to describe someone shifty or suspicious, whilst baka means "fool" in Japanese.2021 May 4, Harry Ainsworth, “What does 'sussy baka' mean and why does everyone on TikTok say it?”, in The Tab, archived from the original…. From the entry sussy baka
  • A shifty or unreliable politician may hide their mendacity behind deceit, fabrication on confabulation, or by rehearsed counter-attack that simply ignores the questions but makes imputations against the other.2019 March 23, Jack Waterford, “Prime Minister's ever-diminishing credibility”, in The Canberra Times, Canberra. From the entry mendacity

Meaning of shifty

  1. adjective Subject to frequent changes in direction.
  2. adjective Moving from one object to another; not looking directly and steadily at the person with whom one is speaking.
  3. adjective Having the appearance of being dishonest, criminal, or unreliable.

Full definition of shifty

Questions about shifty in a sentence

How do you use shifty in a sentence?
Shifty is used as an adjective. For example: “He was a shifty character in a seedy bar, and I checked my wallet was still there after talking to him.”
What is a short sentence with shifty?
“Step with my chain out, everyone shifty.”
What does shifty mean?
Shifty means subject to frequent changes in direction.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shifty (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use shifty in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/shifty. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.