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Shy vs Friendly - What's the difference?

shy | friendly |

As adjectives the difference between shy and friendly

is that shy is easily frightened; timid while friendly is generally warm, approachable and easy to relate with in character.

As nouns the difference between shy and friendly

is that shy is an act of throwing while friendly is (sports) a game which is of no consequence in terms of ranking, betting etc.

As a verb shy

is to avoid due to timidness or caution.

As an adverb friendly is

in a friendly manner, like a friend.

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

    friendly

    English

    Adjective

  • Generally warm, approachable and easy to relate with in character.
    • Your cat seems very friendly .
  • *
    • They stayed together during three dances, went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups. The boy became volubly friendly and bubbling over with unexpected humour and high spirits.
  • Inviting, characteristic of friendliness.
    • He gave a friendly smile.
  • Having an easy relationship with something, as in user-friendly etc.
  • Without any hostility.
    • a friendly competition
    a friendly power or state
  • * (1800-1859)
    • in friendly relations with his moderate opponents
  • Promoting the good of any person; favourable; propitious.
    • a friendly breeze or gale
  • * (Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
    • On the first friendly bank he throws him down.
  • (military) Of or pertaining to friendlies (friendly noun sense 2, below). Also applied to other bipolar confrontations, such as team sports
    • The soldier was killed by friendly fire.
  • *
  • *
  • (number theory) Being or relating to two or more natural numbers with a common abundancy.
    • friendly''' numbers;  '''friendly''' pairs;  '''friendly n-tuples

    Antonyms

    * unfriendly * hostile

    Derived terms

    * family friendly * friendliness * friendly fire * Friendly Islands * radio-friendly * user-friendly

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • In a friendly manner, like a friend.
  • * 1646 , (Thomas Browne), Pseudodoxia Epidemica :
    • And we cannot doubt, our Brothers in Physick [...] will friendly accept, if not countenance our endeavours.

    Synonyms

    * amicably, friendlily

    Noun

    (friendlies)
  • (sports) A game which is of no consequence in terms of ranking, betting etc.
    • ''Even as friendlies , derbies often arouse strong emotions
  • A person or entity on the same side of a conflict.
  • * 2008 , Dennis Wengert, A Very Healthy Insanity (page 44)
    • You see, the mission of almost every teenage girl on the loose is to first identify the targets, just like a war. These include the primary objective (the boy), the enemy (other girls), the friendlies (sympathetic girl friends and the boy's family), and unfriendlies (other boys).