North Eng. blate; shrinking, withdrawn, distant, Inf. introverted, unsocial, unsociable; modest, meek, demure, coy; self-conscious, constrained; sheepish, shamefaced, blushing, embarrassed.
2. timid, timorous, tremulous, fearful, afraid, scared; apprehensive, anxious, nervous; cowardly, uncoura-geous.
3. reluctant, loath, averse, disinclined, indisposed; wary, heedful, cautious, careful, chary, leery, gingerly; suspicious, distrustful, cynical; precautious, prudent, circumspect, politic, guarded, noncommittal, evasive, discreet; demurring, grudging, unwilling, dissenting, opposing, adverse.
4. deficient, indebted, in debt, in arrears, behind, Inf. short.
5. (all of plants and animals) barren, unfruitful, in-fecund, unproductive, sterile, infertile, Bot. acarpous; scant, skimpy, meager, unprolific.
6. fight shy of avoid, evade, shy away from, elude, dodge, shun; escape, save oneself from, keep away from, steer clear of, balk at, sidestep, get around.
-v. 7. start, jerk, draw back, recoil, take alarm, boggle; dodge, duck, dart, swerve, blench, flinch, quail; blink, Inf. bat, wince; react, rebound, spring back.
8. shrink, cower, cringe, Inf. get cold feet; waver, falter, hesitate, demur, scruple, stickle; avoid, evade, retreat. -n. 9. start, jerk, duck, dodge, flinch; wince, blink; recoil, reaction, rebound, springing back,
shy, v. 1. cast, toss, pitch, fling, sling, flip, jerk, flirt, cant, dart, chuck, bowl, hurl, shoot, throw, propel. -n. 2. cast, toss, pitch, fling, flip, jerk, cant, chuck, sling, hurl, shot, heave, throw,
shyness, n. diffidence, self-consciousness, timidity, timorousness, hesitation, constraint; embarrassment, abashment, discomfort, uneasiness; modesty, reserve, demureness, coyness,
sibilant, adj. hissing, sibilous, sibilatory; wheezy, whispery, whistling
sibilate, v. hiss, lisp, rasp; wheeze, whistle, whiffle, whisper.
sibyl, n. prophetess, predictor, forecaster; medium, soothsayer, augur, diviner, oracle; fortune teller, crystal-gazer, pythoness, palmist, witch, sorceress; Gk. Myth. Pythia, Gk. Myth. Delphian sibyl; Class. Myth. Cassandra.
sick, adj. 1. ill, ailing, unwell, unhealthy, sickly, delicate; indisposed, laid up, bedridden, infirm, valetudinarian, confined, shut-in; hurt, afflicted, injured, lame, disabled, crippled; not up to snuff, Inf. out of sorts, Inf. under the weather, on the sick list, Inf. down with the bug, SI. off one's feed. See - sickly (def. 2).
2. nauseated, queasy, SI. barfy, sick to one's stomach, squeamish, qualmish, Inf. green around the gills; seasick, airsick, carsick.
3. sorrowful, grieving, suffering; troubled, miserable, wretched, heavy-laden, burdened, stricken; heartsick, heart-broken, sick at heart, pining, languishing.
4. shocked, repelled, offended, disturbed, revolted, appalled; upset, perturbed, annoyed, put out.
5. Often
sick of tired, sick and tired, glutted, sated, cloyed, jaded, surfeited, satiated; Inf. fed up, Inf. fed or had it up to here.
6. deranged, mentally unsound, psychotic, severely neurotic, unbalanced, disturbed.
7. gruesome, sadistic, ghoulish, morbid; macabre, grotesque; frightful, shocking, repulsive; strange, bizarre, odd.
