1
as in shady
given to acting in secret and to concealing one's intentions
shifty politicians making deals to channel federal funds into their districts
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in deceptive
given to or marked by cheating and deception
shifty practices such as turning back the odometers on used cars
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of shifty
Renfrow, when on the field, has been hard to cover, as he is both shifty and quick in his routes.
—
Mike Kaye
august 4, Charlotte Observer, 4 Aug. 2025
Guarding shorter, shiftier wideouts like Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba is a different challenge, but Woolen is usually well equipped to handle those matchups.
—Michael-Shawn Dugar, New York Times, 26 July 2025
Claire, who blows in and out of Kate’s life, turns up one night pleading for help and telling tales about an accident involving her shifty boyfriend Ryan (Edmund Donovan).
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 12 June 2025
By associating vibes with AI, doing so is an outrageous and shifty means of subliminally implying that AI is mysterious, perhaps bordering on possessing sentience.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 5 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for shifty
Mike Kaye
august 4, Charlotte Observer, 4 Aug. 2025
Guarding shorter, shiftier wideouts like Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba is a different challenge, but Woolen is usually well equipped to handle those matchups.
—Michael-Shawn Dugar, New York Times, 26 July 2025
Claire, who blows in and out of Kate’s life, turns up one night pleading for help and telling tales about an accident involving her shifty boyfriend Ryan (Edmund Donovan).
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 12 June 2025
By associating vibes with AI, doing so is an outrageous and shifty means of subliminally implying that AI is mysterious, perhaps bordering on possessing sentience.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 5 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for shifty
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shifty
Adjective
-
Maybe not something drastic like a world war, slavery or the Holocaust, but there’s always shady s–t going on.—
Carl Lamarre,
Billboard,
3 Sep. 2025
-
Meursault also starts hanging out with his shady and brutish French neighbor, Raymond (Pierre Lottin), whose abusive relationship with an Algerian girl (Hajar Bouzaouit) eventually leads to the murder.—
Jordan Mintzer,
HollywoodReporter,
2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
There will be a temptation because of his height to draw parallels with Moyes’ use of Marouane Fellaini and Soucek, two key pillars of his Everton and West Ham sides, but where Rohl is concerned, his size can be deceptive.—
Patrick Boyland,
New York Times,
4 Sep. 2025
-
In 2024, CarShield paid $10 million to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission that its ads were deceptive and that customers discovered many repairs were not covered.—
Brian Sloan,
CNBC,
4 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
This meant that select watch faces, like Reflections, could update every second even in standby, meaning a sneaky glance down at your wrist during a dull meeting could tell you the time with to-the-second precision.—
David Phelan,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
-
If the Falcons can’t stop Baker Mayfield and play aggressively to keep pace, Penix could be sneaky.—
Jake Ciely,
New York Times,
2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Websites with unusually long browser names or a lack of searchable company representatives or contact information could be fraudulent.—
Tamia Fowlkes,
jsonline.com,
4 Sep. 2025
-
Blount deposited money into the account until April 2022, when the bank shut it down and reversed over $70,000 worth of the fraudulent deposits, prosecutors said.—
Olivia Lloyd,
Miami Herald,
3 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The dust of Ogunleye, the crooked end of the street, the large canal by my uncle’s shop, the small stream of water that flowed behind our house into the large canal at the other end of the street, the foul smell that overcame the street the first time, the getting used to, the boys.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Sep. 2025
-
For a Chicago Cubs lineup that has struggled lately to consistently score runs, let alone put up a crooked number, Friday’s opener against the Colorado Rockies provided the ideal bounce-back environment coming off the sweep in San Francisco.—
Meghan Montemurro,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Industry groups insist that they are committed to weeding out dishonest companies that make false claims or sell dangerous products.—
Suzy Khimm,
NBC news,
26 Aug. 2025
-
No, it was done to protect dishonest businesses.—
U T Editorial Board,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
22 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Shifty.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shifty. Accessed 7 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share