skulk

verb \ ˈskəlk \

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: skulk in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of skulk

skulked; skulking; skulks

intransitive verb

1 : to move in a stealthy or furtive manner

skulked into her sister's room

2 a : to hide or conceal something (such as oneself) often out of cowardice or fear or with sinister intent

b chiefly British : malinger

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skulker

noun

See skulk defined for English-language learners

See skulk defined for kids

skulk was our Word of the Day on 05/14/2012. Hear the podcast!

Examples of skulk in a Sentence

A man was skulking around outside.
She skulked into her sister's room.

Recent Examples of skulk from the Web

Do any of these jokers have an inkling of how posterity will view this week’s videos of them skulking away from reporters in the Capitol’s corridors or making mealy-mouth statements while staring down at the floor?

— frank rich, Daily Intelligencer, "Trump’s Jerusalem Horror Show," 16 May 2018
That day, all around the officers, camouflaged militiamen armed with semiautomatic weapons skulked through the crowd of men, women, and kids who’d gathered.

— leah sottile, Longreads, "Bundyville Chapter One: A War in the Desert," 15 May 2018
The Padres were on their way to an afternoon of skulking back to the dugout, bat in hand, striking out 16 times in a 5-2 loss to the Rockies on Wednesday afternoon at Coors Field.

— kevin acee, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Padres continue on record-breaking strikeout pace in loss to Rockies," 25 Apr. 2018
Smilodon, a saber-toothed cat around the size of today’s African lion, skulked across the grasslands in search of ground sloths and mammoths.

— jason g. goldman, Scientific American, "In 200 Years Cows May Be the Biggest Land Mammals on the Planet," 20 Apr. 2018
Call it a mixture of bravado and irrational confidence, but a great shooter is not skulking off the floor.

— jason gay, WSJ, "Notre Dame’s Shots Heard ‘Round the World," 2 Apr. 2018
Trade adviser Peter Navarro, once barred from sending private emails and spotted skulking in West Wing hallways, has abruptly emerged from the chaos ascendant.

— Washington Post, "Trump shuffle: Suddenly trade guru Navarro takes spotlight," 7 Mar. 2018
Remember when The Dreamers came out, and skulking off to see it in theaters with your friends was the thing to do?

— mehera bonner, Marie Claire, "12 Films Where the Sex Was So Intense It Earned a NC-17 Rating," 2 Jan. 2018
For a time, Bitcoin was known as the currency of drug dealers and other bad actors skulking on the internet.

— nathaniel popper and tiffany hsu, New York Times, "Bitcoin Plummets More Than 30 Percent in Less Than a Day," 22 Dec. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'skulk.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Here's one for the word-puzzle lovers. Can you name three things that the word skulk has in common with all of these other words: booth, brink, cog, flit, give, kid, meek, scab, seem, skull and wing? If you noticed that all of the terms on that list have just one syllable, then you've got the first (easy) similarity, but the next two are likely to prove a little harder to guess. Do you give up? All of the words listed above are of Scandinavian origin and all were first recorded in English in the 13th century. As for "skulk," its closest known Scandinavian relative is the Norwegian dialect word skulka, which means "to lie in wait" or "lurk."

Origin and Etymology of skulk

Middle English, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Norwegian dialect skulka to lie in wait, lurk

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 13th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

skulk Synonyms

Phrases

lie low, sit tight;

Synonym Discussion of skulk

lurk, skulk, slink, sneak mean to behave so as to escape attention. lurk implies a lying in wait in a place of concealment and often suggests an evil intent.