fight shy
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To avoid something or someone because it makes you uncomfortable
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
tránh điều gì đó hoặc ai đó vì cảm thấy không thoải mái
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: to fight with shyness
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
She fights shy of talking about her personal life
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “fight shy” mean?
To avoid something or someone because it makes you uncomfortable Literally: to fight with shyness
Is “fight shy” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.