1
as in shaded
protected from the sun's rays
a lovely shady spot in the park that was pleasantly cool
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in deceptive
given to or marked by cheating and deception
a shady business deal
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in questionable
giving good reason for being doubted, questioned, or challenged
cited some shady statistics to back up his argument
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4
as in shifty
given to acting in secret and to concealing one's intentions
shady characters hanging out in the park after nightfall
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
5
as in notorious
not respectable
a courtesan who lived on the shady fringe of society
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of shady
While temperatures are mild throughout the year, there’s still some variation between nighttime and daytime conditions, and the shady forest groves can be much cooler than in the sun.
—
Cu Fleshman, Travel + Leisure, 19 Apr. 2026
Cut a rhizome in two, using one half for a sharp seasoning and the other to plant in a pot in a shady corner of your patio or balcony.
—Joshua Siskin, Oc Register, 18 Apr. 2026
Many types of lungwort grow leaves which are frequently splashed with silvery white speckles for extra interest in the shady part of the garden.
—Madeline Buiano, Martha Stewart, 18 Apr. 2026
If enough rank-and-file lawmakers stood as one, challenged their party’s leaders and refused to accept this sorry system, the whole shady mess would grind to a halt.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 11 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for shady
Cu Fleshman, Travel + Leisure, 19 Apr. 2026
Cut a rhizome in two, using one half for a sharp seasoning and the other to plant in a pot in a shady corner of your patio or balcony.
—Joshua Siskin, Oc Register, 18 Apr. 2026
Many types of lungwort grow leaves which are frequently splashed with silvery white speckles for extra interest in the shady part of the garden.
—Madeline Buiano, Martha Stewart, 18 Apr. 2026
If enough rank-and-file lawmakers stood as one, challenged their party’s leaders and refused to accept this sorry system, the whole shady mess would grind to a halt.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 11 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for shady
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shady
Adjective
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That’s because workers this spring are adding to STU’s on-campus football stadium, building a shaded home grandstand with about 2,000 seats.—
Walter Villa,
Miami Herald,
16 Apr. 2026
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Rove provides onsite staff during peak charging hours, plus an indoor lounge, free Wi-Fi, restrooms, nighttime security, a shaded canopy, and 40 DC fast chargers.—
Samantha Gowen,
Oc Register,
13 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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The suit alleges negligence, personal injury and deceptive business practices.—
Laura Bauer,
Kansas City Star,
22 Apr. 2026
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Barrera played Michelle, a deceptive character who will keep everyone guessing.—
Denise Petski,
Deadline,
15 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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The department did not directly respond to questions the Tribune sent in February about how the city could have let obviously questionable entries slip through in the first place.—
Joe Mahr,
Chicago Tribune,
19 Apr. 2026
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Now, the school is feeling some of the same competitive pressure its public school neighbors have been feeling – because, in Cedar Rapids' new, competitive marketplace, its product has gone from shiny and new to questionable and perhaps tainted.—
Cory Turner,
NPR,
19 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Here, his work leans into the shifty uncanniness of Altman’s two (or more)-facedness.—
Cath Virginia,
The Verge,
11 Apr. 2026
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On more than one occasion during team period and in seven-on-seven, Shaw deftly mirrored the shifty Craver.—
Tony Catalina,
Austin American Statesman,
9 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Last week, when he was asked about the high ticket prices for the Knicks’ first-round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks, Mamdani jokingly pointed to a notorious New York sports villain.—
Peter Sblendorio,
New York Daily News,
21 Apr. 2026
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The intersection is part of a notorious traffic bottleneck that can delay westbound rush hour motorists 15 minutes a day or more, but the house stands slightly above the road and drivers in heavy stop-and-go congestion rarely seem to notice it.—
Don Stacom,
Hartford Courant,
20 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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After a spate of arson attacks targeting Jewish sites in London, British authorities are investigating a shadowy online group with possible ties to Iran.—
Kayla Hayempour,
NBC news,
20 Apr. 2026
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The new picture also captures shadowy fractures and pits that hint at large volumes of water ice still buried beneath the surface, as well as numerous impact craters surrounded by the detritus of their own explosive formation.—
Joseph Howlett,
Scientific American,
17 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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The state agency that oversees Medicaid has been under scrutiny after the discovery of millions of dollars in potentially fraudulent payments.—
Shaun Boyd,
CBS News,
17 Apr. 2026
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The documents describe an elaborate hoax in which the defendants allegedly created fake companies and fraudulent email accounts and driver’s licenses to help fool lenders into loaning them huge sums of money.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Trusting Anthropic to hold back dangerous models seems somewhat dubious, given that Amodei expressed similar worries about Anthropic’s chatbot, Claude, only to release it after OpenAI put out ChatGPT.—
Kyle Chayka,
New Yorker,
15 Apr. 2026
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But ousting Powell would be legally dubious, Dan Urman, director of the law and public policy minor at Northeastern University, told CBS News.—
Aimee Picchi,
CBS News,
15 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shady.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shady. Accessed 24 Apr. 2026.
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