| English Dictionary |
SHADY (shadier, shadiest)
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
, shadiest Dictionary entry overview: What does shady mean?
• SHADY (adjective)
The adjective SHADY has 4 senses:
1. quiet, dark, or concealed
2. not as expected
3. of questionable honesty or legality
4. filled with shade
Familiarity information: SHADY used as an adjective is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: shadiest
Sense 1
Meaning:
Quiet, dark, or concealed
Context example:
a shady part of town
Similar:
concealed (hidden on any grounds for any motive)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not as expected
Synonyms:
fishy; funny; shady; suspect; suspicious
Context example:
suspicious behavior
Similar:
questionable (subject to question)
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
Derivation:
shadiness (questionable honesty or legality)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Of questionable honesty or legality
Context example:
He established a dummy company through which he laundered vast sums of cash from shady middlemen and arms dealers
Similar:
dishonest; dishonorable (deceptive or fraudulent; disposed to cheat or defraud or deceive)
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Filled with shade
Synonyms:
shadowed; shadowy; shady; umbrageous
Context example:
cool umbrageous woodlands
Similar:
shaded (protected from heat and light with shade or shadow)
Derivation:
shade; shadiness (relative darkness caused by light rays being intercepted by an opaque body)
Context examples
We will go home through the wood: that will be the shadiest way.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
He turned, alone, at the corner of our shady street, into a glow of light, in which we lost him.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
It was a hot day for autumn, and there was a comfortable seat in a shady place.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
There were many other views to be shewn; and though the weather was hot, there were shady lanes wherever they wanted to go.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
It grows in shady forests as well as on open rocky or sandy shores.
(Morinda citrifolia, NCI Thesaurus)
Joe being still absent, Martin procured a Sunday paper and lay down in a shady nook under the trees.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
"I just will, though, for it's capital, so shady, light, and big. It will make fun, and I don't mind being a guy if I'm comfortable."
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
He walked on; and as he walked through beautiful gardens he came to a delightful shady spot in which stood a couch; and he thought to himself, as he felt tired, that he would rest himself for a while, and gaze on the lovely scenes around him.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Round the corner from the by-street, there was a square of ancient, handsome houses, now for the most part decayed from their high estate and let in flats and chambers to all sorts and conditions of men; map-engravers, architects, shady lawyers and the agents of obscure enterprises.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
There were shady trees, and heather, and, as far as the eye could see, a rich landscape.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." (Maimonides)
"A bite from a lion is better the look of envy." (Arabic proverb)
"Don't judge the dog by its fur." (Danish proverb)