How to Use skittish in a Sentence

skittish

adjective
  • We've been skittish about taking on such a large mortgage.
  • Of course, this isn’t the first time buyers have been skittish.
    — Curbed, 1 Sep. 2022
  • Hope is still skittish these days, slipping in and out of the back door.
    — Susanna Schrobsdorff, Time, 28 Feb. 2021
  • These skittish young sharks stick close to shore to avoid predators and snack on stingrays and fish.
    — Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Nov. 2020
  • Tall rows of corn held the more skittish whitetails, while the mule deer stood out in the open.
    — Katie Hill, Outdoor Life, 1 Nov. 2023
  • Prosper timed tonight’s trip with the new moon; eels get skittish when there’s too much light.
    — Karen Pinchin, Smithsonian, 5 Feb. 2018
  • There was little reason to think drug users had grown more skittish.
    — Joseph Goldstein, New York Times, 18 Mar. 2018
  • This sweet story will soothe skittish kids and give them tools to feel calm and safer in the night.
    — Wendy Dunn, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 31 Jan. 2024
  • That may appeal to cats that are too large or too skittish in a closed design.
    — Condé Nast, WIRED, 9 Jan. 2024
  • My hunch is that’s part of why Glass was skittish about doing the deal.
    — Sam Mellinger, kansascity, 20 Feb. 2018
  • Stingrays are skittish and only strike when surprised or stepped on.
    — National Geographic, 5 Jan. 2018
  • Eisenberg said students have been skittish for the past week.
    — Lois K. Solomon, Sun-Sentinel.com, 22 Feb. 2018
  • Here, the story is based in more skittish black bourgeois art-world elitism.
    — Armond White, National Review, 1 Sep. 2021
  • Most guests seem so glad to get out from the quarantine life, but a few seem skittish.
    — Beth Thames | [email protected], al, 7 July 2021
  • When a whitefish would circle our jigs, a loud crack would scare the skittish fish away.
    — Robert Annis, Outside, 24 Feb. 2026
  • The females tend to be more skittish by nature but hormones drive that.
    — Lucy Notarantonio, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Nov. 2025
  • If your dog is skittish like mine, consider boarding her for the day or night.
    — Sam Mellinger, kansascity, 4 July 2017
  • But across the rest of the Northeast, some buyers are a bit more skittish.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 31 Oct. 2021
  • This week, the tech and banking sector are growing skittish about the next shoe to drop.
    — David Goldman, CNN, 12 Mar. 2023
  • He still tippy-taps in the pocket like a skittish rookie.
    — Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 23 Sep. 2025
  • At first, the miners are skittish about strangers from London.
    — Micah L. Sifry, The New Republic, 15 Jan. 2020
  • His hands flutter, flitting up and down the keyboard like skittish moths.
    — Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 9 Apr. 2022
  • Keep your dog close to the end of the strip, to avoid out-of-range flushes from skittish birds that were running ahead.
    — Outdoor Life, 18 Oct. 2023
  • Does not get skittish in the pocket and will stand tall and deliver the football.
    — Terez A. Paylor, kansascity.com, 6 Apr. 2017
  • Tua Tagovailoa was under a heavy rush, and looked skittish in the face of it.
    — Kenny Rosarion, sun-sentinel.com, 22 Nov. 2020
  • People are skittish, though, to kind of talk about applying for jobs and not getting them.
    — Eric Johnson, Recode, 26 Aug. 2018
  • In the past, many of the poorer guests had the skittish look of people who feared eviction at any moment.
    — Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 15 Mar. 2026
  • Plus, hearing from the new owners, those dogs have also been scared and skittish around humans.
    — Liz O'Connell, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 May 2025
  • The buck showed up at a corn feeder about 30 yards away, but the young hunter could tell it was acting skittish.
    — Matt Williams, Dallas News, 29 Jan. 2021
  • For those who like to micro-fish for tiny, skittish species in creeks and ponds, the fish list totals have a chance to jump way up there.
    — Jim Gronaw, Baltimore Sun, 18 Sep. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'skittish.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: