What's the difference between scare and skittish?

Scare


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To frighten; to strike with sudden fear; to alarm.
  • (n.) Fright; esp., sudden fright produced by a trifling cause, or originating in mistake.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) No one deserves to walk out of the theatre feeling scared, humiliated or rejected.
  • (2) "At first, after the [anti-Putin] protests started in December, the authorities got scared that they had lost control," Polozov said.
  • (3) Even in the best case this would cause a serious shock to the UK economy.” The CBI report angered Brexit campaigners, who believe the government is trying to scare voters into supporting Britain remaining in the EU.
  • (4) But even with all of that, and country radio always looking for its next hit, they are still scared of it.
  • (5) Suffice to say, it was a long, difficult haul with various scares and alarms along the way.
  • (6) He wasn't the first to employ such scare tactics: in late October, the mayor of the Urals city of Izhevsk was caught on video telling veterans that their government allowances would be raised if United Russia received a high percentage of the vote.
  • (7) The proportion of people who say they will change their shopping habits – or claim they would buy more fresh meat, cut down on ready meals or avoid products from companies linked to the scare – has dropped from 52% at the height of the furore to 47%.
  • (8) "They're scared," one woman says April 15, 2014 max seddon (@maxseddon) Slavyansk residents are marching to defend their local airstrip, which is a cornfield with no fuel, working planes, or real runway April 15, 2014 Updated at 5.20pm BST 5.04pm BST There are conflicting reports of casualties at Kramatorsk airport, taken by Ukrainian forces Tuesday afternoon local time.
  • (9) A Tamil asylum seeker, speaking on condition on anonymity, fears being re-detained or deported: We are scared to go and meet the government.
  • (10) You’d think such a spry, successful man would busy himself with other things besides crawling into a pile of stuffed animals to scare his daughter’s date.
  • (11) Listen to Stoopid Symbol Of Woman Hate or Can't Stand Up For 40-Inch Busts (both songs were inspired by a hatred of sexist advertising) and you can hear Amon Duul and Hawkwind scaring the living shit out of Devo and Clock DVA.
  • (12) Richards was a feminist who, rather than scaring men, stung them with her wit, a technique she famously applied to President George Bush senior in what became a legendary quip in American politics.
  • (13) It hasn't helped that ministers have talked the economy down, which has scared people.
  • (14) People are scared at first of open kitchens because they fear it will force them to act in a certain way and they're right.
  • (15) Neither of us are rampant or militant or any of those other descriptors anti-feminists fling about to scare those who stand up for their rights.
  • (16) "This is an area we've been scared about for years."
  • (17) Anthony Wells, director of YouGov’s political and social research team, said: “While there will be speculation about whether this movement is connected to the tragic death of Jo Cox, we do not think that it is... We are now in the final week of the referendum campaign and the swing back towards the status quo appears to be in full force.” EU referendum voters unconvinced by scare tactics: ‘I just want to do what’s right’ Read more Today, both sides will resume their battle to capture the votes of the undecided and to persuade people to switch sides, though both the Leave and Remain camps say that the manner of their campaigning will be more sober and less combative.
  • (18) And scared that there would be a very public backlash; that I'd be punished."
  • (19) I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m scary, I’ll fuckin’ scare you then.
  • (20) "Some soldiers won't fire on the Egyptian people, but others are too scared to disobey orders.

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.