once bitten, twice shy
idiom
—used to mean that a person who has failed or been hurt when trying to do something is careful or fearful about doing it again
Examples of once bitten, twice shy in a Sentence
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For Barca, this is a case of once bitten, twice shy, as Paris Saint-Germain were famously not put off by Neymar’s €222m release clause in 2017.
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Matt Slater, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
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Matt Slater, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Once bitten, twice shy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/once%20bitten%2C%20twice%20shy. Accessed 21 Oct. 2025.
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