What's the difference between curiosity and skittish?

Curiosity


Definition:

  • (n.) The state or quality or being curious; nicety; accuracy; exactness; elaboration.
  • (n.) Disposition to inquire, investigate, or seek after knowledge; a desire to gratify the mind with new information or objects of interest; inquisitiveness.
  • (n.) That which is curious, or fitted to excite or reward attention.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Squamous cell carcinoma of the colorectum is a rare pathologic curiosity.
  • (2) The Glaxo Australia-Baker Medical Research Institute Agreement is for curiosity driven research in specified areas of vascular pharmacology of interest to Glaxo Group Research.
  • (3) There may be cases in which youngsters have travelled overseas perhaps out of curiosity or with an interest but upon arriving shall we say in Turkey, through which a lot of these people are staged, get cold feet and decide they don’t want to pursue that objective.
  • (4) Interview with Donald Hutera In other words "Maliphant's choreography slips under our guard, arouses our curiosity and hones our gaze, without us realising the force of its aim."
  • (5) Miller is suing the NoW's parent company, News Group, and Mulcaire, accusing them of breaching her privacy and of harassing her "solely for the commercial purpose of profiting from obtaining private information about her and to satisfy the prurient curiosity of members of the public regarding the private life of a well-known individual".
  • (6) Active reading of the micrograph is aided by a curiosity in the functional significance of the various details of the picture; there has to be a dialogue between the mind and the eye concerning the structural elements and their significance.
  • (7) Curiosity now has the chance, for example, to do some closer up, but still remote, measurements, using the ChemCam instrument with lasers, to look at composition.
  • (8) It is being stressed that whereas the significance of these unusual organelles remains uncertain, their widespread occurrence may indicate that their role is more important than was believed previously, and they should cease being a curiosity only.
  • (9) If you look at the sponsorship and marketing, look at the bidding contracts, and you will see more,” he said after Pound had laid out just how badly the IAAF’s processes and a collective lack of curiosity had failed to deal with the corruption in their midst.
  • (10) What it did, at least at first, was exaggerate my natural curiosity and need for emotional affection.
  • (11) Yet the mating of zebrafish has implications that go far beyond mere biological curiosity.
  • (12) A morphologic curiosity is presented in a polypoid gastric tumor combined with adenocarcinoma and carcinoid tumor.
  • (13) Her rhetoric hits a modest peak in the introductory remarks: "This book is the result of a long practical experience, a lively curiosity and a real love for cookery.
  • (14) There’s also Birdsong, an e-commerce platform selling high-quality products made by women’s charities – and Curiosity Club, an education venture which wants to cultivate an inquisitive nature and passion for learning in children from less privileged socioeconomic backgrounds.
  • (15) The ties between the two are more than a historical curiosity, says Benjamin Young, a contributor to NK News whose Masters research at the State University of New York: the college at Brockport, uncovered surprising details of the relationship.
  • (16) For half a century the systolic click and late systolic murmur lay dormant as innocent auscultatory curiosities.
  • (17) We want them to gain the following: an understanding of how to use technology to enhance learning; an appreciation for, and facility in, the arts; scientific curiosity; an appreciation and knowledge of their cultures and those of others; and the capacity to think critically.
  • (18) What I want to do, inasmuch as I want to do anything, is go on satisfying my curiosity."
  • (19) Seahorses are threatened by overexploitation for traditional medicines, aquariums and curiosities, accidental capture by fishing fleets, and degradation of their habitats.
  • (20) Such curiosity is not a big ask, and demanding such rigorous thinking from tutors seems a much more effective way of getting diverse students into top universities than creating a mythical list of "better" subjects, writing them into the league tables and thereby sanctioning the lazy dismissal of anyone who does not fit the mould.

Skittish


Definition:

  • (v. t.) Easily frightened; timorous; shy; untrustworthy; as, a skittish colt.
  • (v. t.) Wanton; restive; freakish; volatile; changeable; fickle.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Jason Conibear, market analyst at forex specialists, Cambridge Mercantile, argues that Obama will be breathing a sigh of relief, even though US economic growth is slowing: American consumers are getting skittish again, but with the giant economy's output still creeping upwards, politicians and policymakers will find the perfect excuse to do nothing.
  • (2) Bosnia were dreadfully vulnerable on their left with Lulic often drawn forwards, a situation not helped by the uncharacteristic skittishness of Emir Spahic, the left-sided centre-back, who misplaced a couple of passes in the opening 10 minutes and looked anxious throughout.
  • (3) Obama, who had been skittish about coming to Copenhagen at all unless it could be cast as a foreign policy success, looked visibly frustrated as he appeared before world leaders.
  • (4) As Shallow, he “pecks at the lines, nibbles at them like a parrot biting on a nut; for all his age, he darts here and there nimbly enough, even skittishly: forgetting nothing, not even the pleasure of Falstaff’s page, that ‘little tiny thief’.” But if Tynan was enamoured of Olivier, he was also alert to the miniaturist precision of Alec Guinness.
  • (5) The first episodes show a woman stumbling between responses: refusing punishing treatment that might prolong her life slightly; cartwheeling down corridors; deciding not to tell her family about the diagnosis; flashing her doctor; keeping her juvenile husband at arm's length; and trying desperately, skittishly, to fix her teenage son's brattish behaviour before it's too late.
  • (6) Cameron Peacock, market analyst at IG Markets, said the financial markets were in "skittish" mood.
  • (7) Assuming, as still seems likely, that it passes, the odds that the White House will get legislators – who'll already be skittish about how changes to the healthcare system might impact on their re-election chances – to swallow another big pill like that are slim indeed.
  • (8) For now, it seems the selling is confined to the more skittish market participants, but if the index moves much lower the quiet retreat could turn into an increasingly panicky rout.
  • (9) Factory's Happy Mondays bound together the exotic new dance rhythms with a groggy Lancastrian verse, and in the movement known as Madchester was born the commercialisation of the abstract, agitating spirit of Factory, and the spirited postmodern skittishness of Wilson.
  • (10) If they do not assert that clear control, these technology companies risk losing business – not only from skittish consumers, but also from corporate and foreign-government clients.
  • (11) He learnt the new motions, the vastly swaying skittishness and violence of the revenant rigs.
  • (12) Matip’s aerial prowess should help improve Liverpool’s ability to defend set-pieces and he is a sound tackler and tidy builder from the back, but what his team need most in the absence of further defensive recruits is an organiser who can somehow instil concentration and calmness into chronically skittish team-mates.
  • (13) Skittish, exasperating and endearing, yes, but never dull.
  • (14) Putting in some time behind the till of my family’s shop before Christmas reminded me that the customer is a skittish beast.
  • (15) I’m not surprised that some [backbenchers] are skittish, because there’s all this stuff in the ether and they don’t have a broad-based package to look at.” Turnbull appeared to step back from the GST proposal during the week, answering questions from Labor on the revenue measure during question time by saying no plans had been finalised.
  • (16) Speaking at a meeting of the Business Roundtable in Washington, Obama warned Republicans against “playing chicken with an $18tn economy” by threatening a shutdown, especially in “skittish” stock market conditions.
  • (17) His comments are likely to add to the volatility of already skittish markets.
  • (18) I had been warned that she had been skittish about agreeing to do media interviews, that she was concerned certain boundaries should not be crossed - which put me doubly on my guard.
  • (19) Zuckerberg himself made clear that he wasn’t going to loosen his reigns on Facebook, reassuring skittish shareholders that he would continue to serve as the company’s CEO “for many, many years to come”.
  • (20) Gliding was inhibited on very hydrophobic substrata and skittish on very hydrophilic surfaces.