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Shy vs Innocent - What's the difference?

shy | innocent |

As adjectives the difference between shy and innocent

is that shy is easily frightened; timid while innocent is (pure, free from sin, untainted)Free from guilt, sin, or immorality.

As nouns the difference between shy and innocent

is that shy is an act of throwing while innocent is those who are innocent; young children.

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

    innocent

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Free from guilt, sin, or immorality.
  • * 1606 , , IV. iii. 16:
    • to offer up a weak, poor, innocent lamb
  • Bearing no legal responsibility for a wrongful act.
  • Naive; artless.
  • * 1600 , , V. ii. 37:
    • I can find out no rhyme to / 'lady' but 'baby' – an innocent rhyme;
  • (obsolete) Not harmful; innocuous; harmless.
    • an innocent medicine or remedy
  • * Alexander Pope
    • The spear / Sung innocent , and spent its force in air.
  • Having no knowledge (of something).
  • Lacking (something).
  • Lawful; permitted.
    • an innocent trade
  • Not contraband; not subject to forfeiture.
    • innocent goods carried to a belligerent nation

    Synonyms

    * (free from blame or guilt) sackless * (free from sin) pure, untainted * See also

    Antonyms

    * (bearing no legal responsibility for a wrongful act) guilty, nocent

    Related terms

    * innocence * innocently * innocuous

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Those who are innocent; young children.
    • The slaughter of the innocents was a significant event in the New Testament.
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