different between sneaky vs shifty
sneaky
English
Etymology
From sneak +? -y.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?sni?ki/
- Rhymes: -i?ki
Adjective
sneaky (comparative sneakier, superlative sneakiest)
- Difficult to catch due to constantly outwitting the adversaries
- Catching those thieves will be hard: they're so sneaky!
- Dishonest; deceitful.
- They played a sneaky trick on us.
Synonyms
- slippery
- evasive, dodgy
Derived terms
- sneaky suspicion
Related terms
- sneak
Translations
Further reading
- sneaky in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- sneaky in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Noun
sneaky (plural sneakies)
- (espionage, slang) Any device used for covert surveillance.
- 1974, Miles Copeland, Without cloak or dagger: the truth about the new espionage (page 244)
- […] in cooperation with the National Security Agency, installs and maintains "sneakies" throughout the U.S.S.R. and Communist China — but increasingly, denied areas are surveyed more simply.
- 1991, Chapman Pincher, The Truth about Dirty Tricks
- […] has used travellers to plant 'sneakies' - small electronic transmitting devices which form part of a surveillance network.
- 1974, Miles Copeland, Without cloak or dagger: the truth about the new espionage (page 244)
Anagrams
- Kaysen, Sankey, Yankes, snakey
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shifty
English
Etymology
shift +? -y
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /???fti/
Adjective
shifty (comparative shiftier, superlative shiftiest)
- 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.
- 1929, Henry Handel Richardson, Ultima Thule, New York: Norton, Part 2, Chapter 3, p. 145,[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.
- 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]
- 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. […] ’
- 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.
- 1857, Charles Kingsley, Two Years Ago, Cambridge: Macmillan, Volume 1, Chapter 1, p. 34,[8]
Derived terms
- shiftily
- shiftiness
- shifty-eyed
Translations
References
shifty From the web:
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