shifty
/ˈʃɪfti/ adjective
Forms shiftier shiftiest
- adjective Subject to frequent changes in direction.
- adjective (of a person's eyes) Moving from one object to another; not looking directly and steadily at the person with whom one is speaking.
- adjective (informal, idiomatic) Having the appearance of being dishonest, criminal, or unreliable. “He was a shifty character in a seedy bar, and I checked my wallet was still there after talking to him.”
- adjective Resourceful; full of, or ready with, shifts or expedients.
Synonyms
Etymology
From shift + -y. Cognate with Dutch schiftig (“loose-fitting, open-textured”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Full of, or ready with, shifts; fertile in expedients or contrivance. Wright.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “shifty”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details