skittish

Word family

Related topics: Horses

skit·tish /ˈskɪtɪʃ/ adjectiveadj

1. DSHNERVOUSan animal, especially a horse, that is skittish gets excited or frightened very easily 〔动物，尤指马〕易激动的，易受惊的

2. CHANGE YOUR MINDa person who is skittish is not very serious, and their feelings, behaviour, and opinions keep changing 〔人〕轻浮的，轻佻的；善变的

3 if people who buy shares are skittish, they are nervous and worried about them dropping in value, and might sell the shares that they own because of this 〔购买股票者〕紧张不安的，担心股价下跌的 SYN jittery

Some skittish Wall Street investors are staying away from the market.

一些患得患失的华尔街投资者不敢入市。

—skittishly adverbadv

Examples from the Corpus

skittish• Any pack animals the adventurers have may get restless and skittish.• And if Apple falls apart, software developers could get even more skittish about sinking money into writing programs for Macs.• Institutional investors such as mutual funds are more skittish and can bail out after a few quarters of soft earnings.• Cranston's mount became skittish and even Philomel showed a lively interest in the group round the scaffold.• At the heart of the problem is this: Bighorn sheep are skittish animals.• My horse was skittish, I could not settle him.• As it is, the thundering herd is likely to prove a skittish lot.• At work she was a supremely confident executive; with her first child she was a skittish novice.

Origin skittish

(1300-1400) Perhaps from Old Norse skjota “to shoot”

skit·tish adjectiveadj

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus