different between diplomatic vs shifty

English

Alternative forms

• diplomatical (dated)
• diplomatick (obsolete)

Etymology

From French diplomatique, equal to diplomat +? -ic.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?d?pl??mæt?k/

Adjective

diplomatic (comparative more diplomatic, superlative most diplomatic)

1. Concerning the relationships between the governments of countries.

   She spent thirty years working for Canada's diplomatic service.

   Albania immediately severed diplomatic relations with Zimbabwe.

2. Exhibiting diplomacy; exercising tact or courtesy; using discussion to avoid hard feelings, fights or arguments.

   Thoughtful corrections can be diplomatic as well as instructional.

3. describing a publication of a text which follows a single basic manuscript, but with variants in other manuscripts noted in the critical apparatus
   • Whereas a diplomatic edition uses as its base text a single, "best" manuscript, to which other textual evidence is collated and organized into an apparatus, a critical text of the LXX/OG [= Septuagint or Old Greek] may be described as a collection of the oldest recoverable texts, carefully restored book by book (or section by section), aiming at achieving the closest approximation to the original translations (from Hebrew or Aramaic) or compositions (in Greek), systematically reconstructed from the widest array of relevant textual data (including controlled conjecture). The International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, Critical Editions of Septuagint/Old Greek Texts.
4. Relating to diplomatics, or the study of old texts; paleographic.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

diplomatic (uncountable)

1. The science of diplomas, or the art of deciphering ancient writings and determining their age, authenticity, etc.; paleography.
   • 1983, Theodore Frank Thomas Plucknett, Studies in English legal history (page 151)

     In its broadest aspect, the subject-matter of diplomatic is the relation between documents and facts.

Ladin

Adjective

diplomatic m pl

1. plural of diplomatich

Occitan

Adjective

diplomatic m (feminine singular diplomatica, masculine plural diplomatics, feminine plural diplomaticas)

1. diplomatic

Related terms

• diplomacia
• diplomata

Romanian

Etymology

From French diplomatique, from Latin diplomaticus.

Adjective

diplomatic m or n (feminine singular diplomatic?, masculine plural diplomatici, feminine and neuter plural diplomatice)

1. diplomatic

Declension

English

Etymology

shift +? -y

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???fti/

Adjective

shifty (comparative shiftier, superlative shiftiest)

1. Subject to frequent changes in direction.
   • 1929, Henry Handel Richardson, Ultima Thule, New York: Norton, Part 2, Chapter 3, p. 145,^[2]

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

   • 2002, Guy Vanderhaeghe, The Last Crossing, New York: Grove, Chapter 17, p. 190,^[3]

     The Kelsos crowding their horses up against the wagon, bumping it, making things shake inside: everything going shifty, unsteady.

2. (of a person's eyes) Moving from one object to another, not looking directly and steadily at the person with whom one is speaking.
   • 1886, George Manville Fenn, This Man’s Wife, Chapter 3, in Littel’s Living Age, Volume 168, No. 2178, 20 March, 1886, p. 761,^[4]

     […] his quick, shifty eyes turned from the manager to the lethal weapons over the chimney, then to the safe, then to the bank, and Mr. Thickens’s back.

   • 1914, G. K. Chesterton, “The Head of Cæsar” in The Wisdom of Father Brown, London: Cassell, 1928, p. 149,^[5]

     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.

   • 1993, Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy, Boston: Little, Brown, Chapter 1.4, p. 10,^[6]

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

3. Having 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.

   • 1999, J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace, New York: Viking, Chapter 23, p. 208,^[7]

     ‘I don’t trust him,’ he goes on. ‘He is shifty. He is like a jackal sniffing around, looking for mischief. […] ’

4. Resourceful; full of, or ready with, shifts or expedients.
   • 1857, Charles Kingsley, Two Years Ago, Cambridge: Macmillan, Volume 1, Chapter 1, p. 34,^[8]

     Shifty and thrifty as old Greek or modern Scot, there were few things he could not invent, and perhaps nothing he could not endure.

Derived terms

• shiftily
• shiftiness
• shifty-eyed

Translations

References