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Nifty vs Shifty - What's the difference?

nifty | shifty |

As adjectives the difference between nifty and shifty

is that nifty is good, smart; a general term for anything that is good, useful or beneficial while shifty is having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable; such as someone with shifty eyes.

nifty

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Good, smart; a general term for anything that is good, useful or beneficial.

    • shifty

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable; such as someone with shifty eyes .
    • He was a shifty character in a seedy bar and I checked my wallet was still there after talking to him.
  • Subject to frequent changes in direction.
  • * 1971 , Henry Handel Richardson, Ultima Thule (page 121)
    • Off he raced, shuffling his bare feet through the hot, dry, shifty sand. But it was no good: she didn't care.
  • Full of, or ready with, shifts or expedients.
    • (Wright)
  • * Charles Kingsley
    • Shifty and thrifty as old Greek or modern Scot, there were few things he could not invent, and perhaps nothing he could not endure.