as in scurrying
to move quickly and lightly along a surface
Dry leaves skittered over the sidewalk. Mice skittered across the floor.
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Recent Examples of skittering
The game almost ended on Scott’s first pitch to Bailey when Dodgers catcher Ben Rortvedt made a smothering stop to keep the ball from skittering to the backstop, which, in hindsight, might have been an act of grace for the home team.
—
Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2025
The aforementioned eyeball alien buries itself deep into its prey before popping out and skittering along the floor like the world’s loudest spider.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 25 Aug. 2025
Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2025
The aforementioned eyeball alien buries itself deep into its prey before popping out and skittering along the floor like the world’s loudest spider.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 25 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for skittering
Verb
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But much of it has also been done in private, with scouts scurrying across the country to see players early and begin tracking their progress throughout the season.—
Sam Vecenie,
New York Times,
3 Nov. 2025
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Inside, there’s the occasional model being fitted and photographed, outside there are truck drivers, caterers, lighting specialists and many more milling around or scurrying about.—
Evan Clark,
Footwear News,
14 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Swinging from the overhanging branches and darting through the woods, the animals were heading toward a nearby housing project, their pink faces lit with glee.—
Ava Kofman,
New Yorker,
3 Nov. 2025
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But such is the lightning pace of Mbappe that he might be best placed dropping deeper during build-up before darting in-behind.—
Anantaajith Raghuraman,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
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No one enjoys finding moths fluttering around the flour or tiny caterpillars crawling in the cereal.—
Lauren Wicks,
Southern Living,
28 Oct. 2025
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The Bolas spider creates a silk lasso to catch fluttering moths.—
Kate Siber,
Outside,
21 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Everyone was dancing, sweating out their edges, and singing every word.—
Sandy Pierre,
Refinery29,
7 Nov. 2025
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After the announcement, Musk celebrated the vote on a stage at the shareholder meeting, dancing and laughing alongside a pair of robots.—
David Ingram,
NBC news,
6 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Skittering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/skittering. Accessed 8 Nov. 2025.
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