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Shy vs Small - What's the difference?

shy | small |

As an adjective shy

is easily frightened; timid.

As a verb shy

is to avoid due to timidness or caution.

As a noun shy

is an act of throwing.

As a proper noun small is

.

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

    small

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Not large or big; insignificant; few in numbers or size.
  • * , chapter=5
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.}}
  • (figuratively) Young, as a child.
  • (writing, incomparable) Minuscule or lowercase, referring to written letters.
  • Envincing little worth or ability; not large-minded; paltry; mean.
  • * Carlyle
    • A true delineation of the smallest man is capable of interesting the greatest man.
  • Not prolonged in duration; not extended in time; short.
    • a small space of time

    Synonyms

    * (not large or big) little, microscopic, minuscule, minute, tiny; see also * little, wee (Scottish), young * (of written letters) lowercase, minuscule

    Antonyms

    * See also * (not large or big) capital, big, generous (said of an amount of something given), large * adult, grown-up, old * (of written letters) big, capital, majuscule, uppercase

    Derived terms

    * small arm * small arms * small beer * small calorie * small-cell lung cancer * small change * small claims court * smallclothes * smaller European elm bark beetle * small forward * small fry * smallgoods * smallholder * smallholding * small hours * small intestine * smallish * small-minded * smallmouth * smallmouth bass * smallmouth black bass * smallness * small potatoes * smallpox * smalls * small-scale * small screen * small stuff * smallsword * small talk * small-time * * small wonder * twice as small * twice as small as

    Adverb

    (er)
  • In a small fashion.
  • * (William Shakespeare), (w, A Midsummer Night's Dream) , Act I, scene 2, line 49:
    • That's all one: you shall play it in a mask, and / you may speak as small as you will.
  • In or into small pieces.
  • * 2009 , Ingrid Hoffman, CBS Early Morning for September 28, 2009 (transcription)
    • That's going to go in there. We've got some chives small chopped as well.
  • (obsolete) To a small extent.
  • * (rfdate) (William Shakespeare), Sonnets , "Lucrece", line 1273
    • It small avails my mood.

    Derived terms

    * writ small

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any part of something that is smaller or slimmer than the rest, now usually with anatomical reference to the back.
  • (UK, in the plural) Underclothes.

    • Derived terms

    * small of the back

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To make little or less.
  • To become small; to dwindle.
  • * Thomas Hardy
    • And smalled till she was nought at all.

    Statistics

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    Anagrams

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