skitter

verb

skit·​ter ˈski-tər 

skittered; skittering; skitters

intransitive verb

1

a

: to glide or skip lightly or quickly

b

: to move in or as in a jittery or jerky way

leaves skittering over the sidewalk

2

: to twitch the hook of a fishing line through or along the surface of water

transitive verb

: to cause to skitter

Examples of skitter in a Sentence

Dry leaves skittered over the sidewalk.

Mice skittered across the floor.

Recent Examples on the Web

When the Huskies lined up for a 50-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, Ben Barten’s outstretched hand met the ball, sending it skittering across the slick turf. —Ira Gorawara, New York Times, 9 Nov. 2025

Producers Mufasa and Yvng Gucci seamlessly pull off morphing the skittering drums of a somewhat generic UK drill beat into a thudding bouyon rhythm for Guadeloupean trio HollyG to run amok over. —Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 6 Nov. 2025

Flocks of snow buntings skitter across the sand, rising in confetti clouds. —Literary Hub, 4 Nov. 2025

Her characters skitter along in language, rarely lighting on anything for long. —Hilton Als, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

probably frequentative of English dialect (Scots and northern) skite to move quickly, probably from Old Norse skyt-, stem of skjōta to shoot

First Known Use

1845, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Rhymes for skitter

• bitter
• critter
• fitter
• fritter
• glitter
• hitter
• jitter
• knitter
• litter
• quitter
• ritter
• splitter

Kids Definition

skitter

verb

skit·​ter ˈskit-ər 

: to glide or skip lightly or quickly : skim along a surface