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Shy vs Crazy - What's the difference?

shy | crazy |

As adjectives the difference between shy and crazy

is that shy is easily frightened; timid while crazy is insane; lunatic; demented.

As nouns the difference between shy and crazy

is that shy is an act of throwing while crazy is an insane or eccentric person; a crackpot.

As a verb shy

is to avoid due to timidness or caution.

As an adverb crazy is

(slang) very, extremely.

shy

English

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Easily frightened; timid.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • The horses of the army were no longer shy , but would come up to my very feet without starting.
  • Reserved; disinclined to familiar approach.
  • He is very shy with strangers.
  • * Arbuthnot
  • What makes you so shy , my good friend? There's nobody loves you better than I.
  • Cautious; wary; suspicious.
  • * Boyle
  • I am very shy of using corrosive liquors in the preparation of medicines.
  • * Sir H. Wotton
  • Princes are, by wisdom of state, somewhat shy of their successors.
  • Short, insufficient or less than.
  • By our count your shipment came up two shy of the bill of lading amount.
    It is just shy of a mile from here to their house.
  • Embarrassed.
  • See also

    * bashful * reserved * timid * demure * coy

    Usage notes

    * Often used in combination with a noun to produce an adjective or adjectival phrase. * Adjectives are usually applicable to animals (leash-shy'' "shy of leashes" or ''head shy "shy of contact around the head" (of horses)) or to children.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Antonyms

    * brazen * bold * audacious

    Derived terms

    (terms derived using shy as suffix) * -shy * bird-shy * boy-shy * car-shy * cat-shy * camera-shy * cover-shy * girl-shy * gun-shy * hand-shy * man-shy * mouse-shy * noise-shy * people-shy * water-shy * woman-shy * work-shy

    Verb

  • To avoid due to timidness or caution.
  • I shy away from investment opportunities I don't understand.
  • To jump back in fear.
  • The horse shied''' away from the rider, which startled him so much he '''shied away from the horse.
  • to throw sideways with a jerk; to fling
  • to shy''' a stone; to '''shy a slipper

    Noun

    (shies)
  • An act of throwing.
  • (Thackeray)
  • * Punch
  • If Lord Brougham gets a stone in his hand, he must, it seems, have a shy at somebody.
  • * 2008 , (James Kelman), Kieron Smith, Boy , Penguin 2009, p. 55:
  • The game had started. A man was chasing the ball, it went out for a shy .
  • A place for throwing.
  • coconut shy
  • A sudden start aside, as by a horse.
  • In the Eton College wall game, a point scored by lifting the ball against the wall in the calx.
  • Derived terms

    * coconut shy

    crazy

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Insane; lunatic; demented.
  • * 1663 , (Samuel Butler), (Hudibras)
  • Over moist and crazy brains.
  • * , chapter=5
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.}}
  • Out of control.
  • Overly excited or enthusiastic.
  • * R. B. Kimball
  • The girls were crazy to be introduced to him.
  • In love; experiencing romantic feelings.
  • (informal) Unexpected; surprising.
  • Characterized by weakness or feebleness; decrepit; broken; falling to decay; shaky; unsafe.
  • * Macaulay
  • Piles of mean and crazy houses.
  • * Addison
  • One of great riches, but a crazy constitution.
  • * Jeffrey
  • They got a crazy boat to carry them to the island.

    Synonyms

    * * (out of control) (l) * deranged * zany * loco

    Derived terms

    * craze * crazily * craziness * crazing * crazy bone * crazy like a fox * crazy mad * crazy paving * crazy quilt * like crazy

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • (slang) Very, extremely.
  • ''That trick was crazy good

    Noun

    (crazies)
  • An insane or eccentric person; a crackpot.
  • Synonyms

    * lunatic * mad man * nut ball * nut case