word-vault/dist/data/cards/sh/shy.json

A lightweight JavaScript package for English word definitions and collections.

{
    "term": "shy",
    "partOfSpeech": "adjective",
    "ox3000": true,
    "cefr": "b1",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "nervous or embarrassed about meeting and speaking to other people",
            "sensetop": "shy around/with somebody",
            "cefr": "b1",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "He is not exactly the shy and retiring type."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Don't be shy—come and say hello."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She was too shy to ask anyone for help."
                },
                {
                    "text": "As a teenager I was painfully shy."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She's very shy with adults.",
                    "contextForm": "shy around/with somebody"
                },
                {
                    "text": "a quiet, shy man"
                },
                {
                    "text": "She was terribly shy around strangers."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She went all shy and hid behind her mother."
                },
                {
                    "text": "You don't have to be shy with me, you know."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She felt suddenly shy as the large crowd fell silent."
                }
            ],
            "synonyms": "timid",
            "topics": ["Personal qualities", "Feelings"],
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be", "feel", "look"],
                "adverb": ["extremely", "fairly", "very"],
                "preposition": ["around", "of", "with"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "showing that somebody is nervous or embarrassed about meeting and speaking to other people",
            "cefr": "b1",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "a shy smile"
                },
                {
                    "text": "a shy grin/glance"
                },
                {
                    "text": "his shy demeanour/temperament"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "easily frightened and not willing to come near people",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The panda is a shy creature."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 4,
            "definition": "afraid of doing something or being involved in something",
            "sensetop": "shy of/about somethingshy of/about doing something",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The band has never been shy of publicity.",
                    "contextForm": "shy of/about something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "He disliked her and had never been shy about saying so.",
                    "contextForm": "shy of/about doing something"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 5,
            "definition": "not having quite the amount that is needed to be something or to reach a particular figure",
            "sensetop": "shy (of something)",
            "labels": "(especially North American English, informal)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "We are still two players shy (of a full team)."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He died before Christmas, only a month shy of his 90th birthday."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The bill was **just shy of** $1 million."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 6,
            "definition": "avoiding or not liking the thing mentioned",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "camera-shy *(= not liking to be photographed)*"
                },
                {
                    "text": "media-shy *(= not liking to be photographed, filmed or interviewed by the media)*"
                },
                {
                    "text": "He's always been work-shy."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to be unwilling to accept something or do something, and to try to avoid it",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Successive governments have fought shy of such measures."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "after an unpleasant experience you are careful to avoid something similar",
            "labels": "(saying)",
            "examples": []
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ʃaɪ/",
                "audio": "sh/shy/shy__gb_2.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ʃaɪ/",
                "audio": "sh/shy/shy__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Old English scēoh ‘(of a horse) easily frightened’, of Germanic origin; related to German scheuen ‘shun’, scheuchen ‘scare’; compare with eschew. The verb dates from the mid 17th cent."
}