Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use shy in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, verb, noun

Shy means easily frightened; timid. Example: “He is very shy with strangers.”

Examples of shy by meaning

adjectiveReserved; disinclined to familiar approach.

  • He is very shy with strangers.

adjectiveShort, insufficient or less than.

  • By our count your shipment came up two shy of the bill of lading amount.
  • It is just shy of a mile from here to their house.
  • The year I turned 26, as the head of my own brokerage firm, I made $49 million, which really pissed me off because it was three shy of a million a week.2013, Terence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street, spoken by Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio)

adjectiveLess likely to reveal whom they will vote for than average, chiefly in the context of the collective effect this has on...

  • Pollsters need to remember the shy Tory factor.

verbTo jump back in fear.

  • The horse shied at the unexpected approach of a motor vehicle.

verbTo throw sideways with a jerk; to fling.

  • to shy a stone
  • shy a slipper

nounAn act of throwing.

  • A man was chasing the ball, it went out for a shy.2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 55

More sentences with shy

  • I used to find it hard to make friends when I was shy.From the entry friend
  • The woman in this film is not shy about getting her kit off, is she?From the entry get one's kit off
  • Many people seem shy, but they really just efface for meekness.From the entry efface
  • I don't really know him well, since he's so shy and retiring.From the entry retiring
  • How do I get a shy man to ask me out?From the entry ask out
  • Tom is very outgoing and enjoys meeting people; his brother, on the other hand, is painfully shy.From the entry outgoing
  • John was very shy and to himself when he went to school that day.From the entry to oneself
  • The baal korei was so shy the tzibbur couldn't hear him, they all kept shouting "hecher! hecher!"From the entry hecher
  • That guy might be a few cards shy of a full deck — he thinks that substitute sugar is really a government tracking system.From the entry few cards shy of a full deck
  • I realise that some readers would enjoy using my head at a coconut shy.2021 December 1, Christian Wolmar, “A cloud over HS2... but a silver lining for other services?”, in RAIL, number 945, page 53. From the entry coconut shy
  • She's a little shy at first but warms up quickly with some gentle pets and snackos.2021 September, “Vanderburgh Humane Society: Animal Spotlight”, in News 4U, EMG Publishing, page 46. From the entry snacko
  • Thick crust, not shy on salt, mashed potato-y in the middle, and paired with a blended margarita.2021 March 11, Celina Garcia, “[Santa Barbara’s Burger Week Is Back] Little Kitchen: The LK Burger”, in Santa Barbara Independent, Santa…. From the entry mashed potato-y
  • Rokkatru is a form of heathenry that many shy away from.2019, Theorodic Dukka, A Heathen's Guide Experiences & Advice On Magic & Spiritworking, pages 7–8. From the entry Rokkatru
  • “I used to be a once bitten, twice shy kind of guy.2018, Maggie Wells, A Ring for Rosie. From the entry Mack truck
  • A similar effect is obtained by binding the shy rooter with wire immediately above the graft.2017, Steve Bradley, R. J. Garner, The Grafter's Handbook, page 93. From the entry rooter
  • 'Yes,' said Lizzy, suddenly shy in the face of uniformed authority.2011, Mary Jane Staples, Down Lambeth Way. From the entry skin and blister
  • The banded leaf monkey (Presbytis femoralis) is a very shy animal and keeps to the canopy.2011, Peter K. L. Ng, Richard Corlett, Hugh T. W. Tan, Singapore Biodiversity, →ISBN. From the entry leaf monkey
  • In her present mood, there were some things she wasn't going to shy away from any more.2009, Milly Johnson, A Spring Affair, →ISBN. From the entry bin-bag
  • As the saying goes in the north-east, ‘shy bairns get nowt’!2007, “Rob [Rob has a Six-year-old Son who was Infected with Cytomegalovirus as a Baby]”, in Jill Harrison, Matthew Henderson, Rob…. From the entry shy bairns get nowt
  • 'If you had been a shy man, awkward with women, it might have made sense.2002, Anne Weale [pseudonym; Jay Blakeney], A Spanish Honeymoon, Richmond: Mills & Boon, →ISBN, page 277. From the entry bedwise
  • The White Parks are alert but somewhat nervous or shy around people.2001, Janet Vorwald Dohner, The Encyclopedia of Historic and Endangered Livestock and Poultry Breeds. From the entry White Park
  • Bill Clinton has never shied away from displays of dewy-eyed, lip-biting sentimentality.2000 June 12, Romesh Ratnesar, “The Victory Lap?”, in Time Europe. From the entry dewy-eyed
  • They tend to shy away from army ants and ponerine ants, both of which give nasty stings.1999, John C. Kricher, A Neotropical Companion: An Introduction to the Animals, Plants, and Ecosystems of the New World Tropics, 2nd…. From the entry tamandua
  • In his youth, he shied away from his name, red suits, beards and children carrying wish lists.1991 December 26, “Dallas Man Finds Christmas Spirit Has His Name”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company…. From the entry Claus
  • Short and shy, he seems timid as he looks out through coke-bottle glasses.1989 March 1, Ben Tierney, “High-profile Dissident a Quandary for Beijing”, in Montreal Gazette. From the entry coke bottle
  • It is described by men as being very shy and brave in a futile but adoring way.1987, Albert Gosewijn van Beek, The Way of All Flesh: Hunting and Ideology of the Bedamuni ..., page 84. From the entry tree wallaby
  • GWF 27, attr, tall, dependable, semi-broad, amazonal, honest, shy, stable, quiet lifestyle & dignity seeks same.1986 April 19, “Amazons (personal advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, page 13. From the entry Amazonal
  • Underneath she's one of the most shy people you'd ever meet.1984, Robert H. Adleman, Sweetwater Fever, New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, page 221. From the entry gasbag
  • Yet even in this personal agonising, I fought shy of anything that smacked of fanatical lonerism.1984, Ciaran McKeown, The Passion of Peace, Belfast: Blackstaff Press, →ISBN, page 268. From the entry lonerism
  • A shy moonling hangs on the suit of an astronaut and is taken back to earth.1981, Ruth Beall Heinig, Lyda Stillwell, Creative Drama for the Classroom Teacher, page 248. From the entry moonling
  • Nobody had as yet told Emily how very winsome that shy, sudden, upglance of hers was.1923, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Emily of New Moon. From the entry upglance

Meaning of shy

  1. adjective Easily frightened; timid.
  2. adjective Reserved; disinclined to familiar approach.
  3. adjective Cautious; wary; suspicious.

Full definition of shy

Questions about shy in a sentence

How do you use shy in a sentence?
Shy is used as an adjective, verb and noun. For example: “He is very shy with strangers.”
What is a short sentence with shy?
“shy a slipper”
What does shy mean?
Shy means easily frightened; timid.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shy (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 shy in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/shy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.