Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having, displaying, or suggestive of deceitful character; evasive or untrustworthy.
- adjective Distinguished by frequent changes in direction.
- adjective Able to accomplish what is needed; resourceful.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Changeable; changeful; shifting; fickle; wavering: as, shifty principles.
- Full of shifts; fertile in expedients; well able to shift for one's self.
- Given to or characterized by shifts, tricks, or artifices; fertile in dodges or evasions; tricky.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Full of, or ready with, shifts; fertile in expedients or contrivance.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable; such as someone with shifty eyes.
- adjective Subject to frequent changes in direction.
- adjective Full of, or ready with,
shifts orexpedients .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective changing position or direction
- adjective characterized by insincerity or deceit; evasive
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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This makes explicit what was part of the subtext of my essay: Even Microsoft doesn't do this kind of shifty crap anymore, if they can help it.
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This makes explicit what was part of the subtext of my essay: Even Microsoft doesn't do this kind of shifty crap anymore, if they can help it.
Anil Dash 2009
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And he looked kind of shifty when I turned up with my Other Half, Andy, in tow.
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And he looked kind of shifty when I turned up with my Other Half, Andy, in tow.
January 2008 2008
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It's sort of like arguing that forming the Coalition to begin with was undemocratic: it wasn't; it was just kind of shifty, like the proroguing, arguably depending who you're cheering for was.
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The GOP is now proving that despite their former warnings of doom (when THAT suited their purposes), they now embrace this "shifty" legal strategy as an effective way of illegitimately preventing a Senator from the opposing party from taking office at all.
Minnesota Supremes Reject Coleman Lawsuit, Clearing Way For Franken Win Later Today 2009
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Sort of like the scene early in the movie where everyone's young and idealistic and swears they'll never abandon their liberal principles, then one of them gets kind of shifty-eyed . . .
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Lets face it being a dealer is a kind of shifty profession.
New Car william wray 2009
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To all thoseRay 'shifty' saying: "Let the consumer decide"
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Nevertheless, Cameron's performance evoked from The Telegraph the headline, "Cameron attacks 'shifty' Brown over EU treaty", with an equally robust headline from The Daily Express.
This issue is not going to go away Richard 2007
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