shy away from

verb

To avoid out of fear or caution.

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Meanings

verbshy away from (third-person singular simple present shies away from, present participle shying away from, simple past and past participle shied away from)

present singular third person shies away from · participle present shying away from · participle past shied away from · past shied away from

  1. To avoid out of fear or caution.
    1 more example

    The Conan O’Brien-penned half-hour has the capacity to rip our collective hearts out the way the cute, funny bad girl next door does to Bart when she reveals that her new boyfriend is Jimbo Jones, but the show keeps shying away from genuine emotion in favor of jokes that, while overwhelmingly funny, detract from the poignancy and the emotional intimacy of the episode.

    2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 30 Jan 2013

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
avoid

Translations

Finnish vältellä
  • vältelläavoid out of fear or caution
Italian astenersi, evitare
  • astenersiavoid out of fear or caution
  • evitareavoid out of fear or caution
  • rifuggireavoid out of fear or caution
Korean 꺼리다
  • 꺼리다 (kkeorida)avoid out of fear or caution
Polish stronić, wzbraniać się
  • stronićavoid out of fear or caution
  • wzbraniać sięavoid out of fear or caution
  • wzbronić sięavoid out of fear or caution
Slovak strániť sa, bočiť od
  • strániť saavoid out of fear or caution
  • bočiť odavoid out of fear or caution
  • vyhýbať saavoid out of fear or caution
Spanish escurrir el bulto, rehuir
  • escurrir el bultoavoid out of fear or caution
  • rehuiravoid out of fear or caution
Cite this entry
APA

shy away from. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shy%20away%20from

MLA

“shy away from.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shy%20away%20from. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shy away from,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shy%20away%20from.

Source: shy away from on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.