Shifty

Quick meaning: Shifty is an adjective meaning Subject to frequent changes in direction.

Meaning

Subject to frequent changes in direction.

More Meanings

1. (of a person's eyes) Moving from one object to another; not looking directly and steadily at the person with whom one is speaking.
2. (informal, idiomatic) Having the appearance of being dishonest, criminal, or unreliable.
3. Resourceful; full of, or ready with, shifts or expedients.

Example Sentences

Off he raced, shuffling his bare feet through the hot, dry, shifty sand.

He was thin, unsure of himself, sweet-natured and shifty-eyed; and he was Lata’s favourite.

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. He is like a jackal sniffing around, looking for mischief. […]’

Word Forms

• shiftier
• shiftiest

Synonyms for shifty

Depending on context, synonyms include devious, untrustworthy.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include devious, untrustworthy, evasive, changeful, slippery, weathery.

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