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Shy vs Delicate - What's the difference?

shy | delicate |

As adjectives the difference between shy and delicate

is that shy is easily frightened; timid while delicate is easily damaged or requiring careful handling.

As nouns the difference between shy and delicate

is that shy is an act of throwing while delicate is a delicate item of clothing, especially underwear or lingerie.

As a verb shy

is to avoid due to timidness or caution.

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

    delicate

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Easily damaged or requiring careful handling.
  • Those clothes are made from delicate lace.
    The negotiations were very delicate .
  • * F. W. Robertson
  • There are some things too delicate and too sacred to be handled rudely without injury to truth.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=April 23 , author=Angelique Chrisafis , title=François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=The final vote between Hollande and Sarkozy now depends on a delicate balance of how France's total of rightwing and leftwing voters line up.}}
  • Characterized by a fine structure or thin lines.
  • Her face was delicate .
    The spider wove a delicate web.
    There was a delicate pattern of frost on the window.
  • Intended for use with fragile items.
  • Set the washing machine to the delicate cycle.
  • Refined; gentle; scrupulous not to trespass or offend; considerate; said of manners, conduct, or feelings.
  • delicate''' behaviour; '''delicate''' attentions; '''delicate thoughtfulness
  • Of weak health; easily sick; unable to endure hardship.
  • a delicate''' child; '''delicate health
  • * Shakespeare
  • a delicate and tender prince
  • (informal) Unwell, especially because of having drunk too much alcohol.
  • Please don't speak so loudly: I'm feeling a bit delicate this morning.
  • (obsolete) Addicted to pleasure; luxurious; voluptuous; alluring.
  • * 1360–1387 , (William Langland), (Piers Plowman) (C-text), passus IX, line 285:
  • Þenk þat diues for hus delicat lyf to þe deuel wente.
  • * circa'' 1660 , (John Evelyn) (author), , volume I of II (1901), entry for the 19th of August in 1641, page 29:
  • Haerlem is a very delicate town and hath one of the fairest churches of the Gothic design I had ever seen.
  • Pleasing to the senses; refined; adapted to please an elegant or cultivated taste.
  • a delicate''' dish; '''delicate flavour
  • Slight and shapely; lovely; graceful.
  • * circa'' 1603 , (William Shakespeare), ''(Othello) , act II, scene iii, lines 18 and 20–21:
  • :   She’s a most exquisite lady.…Indeed, she’s a most fresh and delicate creature.
  • Light, or softly tinted; said of a colour.
  • a delicate shade of blue
  • Of exacting tastes and habits; dainty; fastidious.
  • Highly discriminating or perceptive; refinedly critical; sensitive; exquisite.
  • a delicate''' taste; a '''delicate ear for music
  • Affected by slight causes; showing slight changes.
  • a delicate thermometer

    Synonyms

    * (easily damaged) fragile

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A delicate item of clothing, especially underwear or lingerie.
  • Don't put that in with your jeans: it's a delicate !
  • (obsolete) A choice dainty; a delicacy.
  • With abstinence all delicates he sees. — Dryden.
  • (obsolete) A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.
  • All the vessels, then, which our delicates have, — those I mean that would seem to be more fine in their houses than their neighbours, — are only of the Corinth metal. — Holland.