skitter

verb

skit·​ter ˈski-tər How to pronounce skitter (audio)
skittered; skittering; skitters

intransitive verb

1
a
: to glide or skip lightly or quickly
b
: to move in or as in a jittery or jerky way
leaves skittering over the sidewalk
2
: to twitch the hook of a fishing line through or along the surface of water

transitive verb

: to cause to skitter

Examples of skitter in a Sentence

Dry leaves skittered over the sidewalk. Mice skittered across the floor.
Recent Examples on the Web If the gender binary melts away, if heterosexuality is no longer the default assumption, if parasites enter the building and dismantle the tenants, something unspeakable will skitter across—and that is the point of any erotic effusion worth pursuing. Becca Rothfeld, The New Yorker, 17 Feb. 2024 Listening to Perpetual Morphosis is like watching stop-motion footage of a rainforest floor: notes skittering around like industrious insects in the dirt while others operate on an entirely different timescale, growing and blooming with the patience of plants. Pitchfork, 14 Dec. 2023 Amid the tumult, there are brief, blissfully peaceful shots of ants skittering up and down a wall, and also of a snail slithering across Sol’s open palm. Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 1 Feb. 2024 As the lattice’s remaining electrons interacted, the hole where the missing electron had been would skitter around the lattice. Michael Greshko, WIRED, 28 Jan. 2024 Although the performance was just over one and a half minutes long, Wave was incredibly well behaved, even joining his father in bopping along to Southside’s skittering bass toward the end of the clip. Kyle Denis, Billboard, 8 Nov. 2023 Ahead of me, five more disembodied beams skittered across the snow, each emitting from the skiers ahead of me. Tim Neville, Travel + Leisure, 29 Dec. 2023 As war rages in Gaza and the Middle East as a whole is skittering on the brink of a wider conflagration, the fate of thousands of Palestinian shepherds and farmers on the West Bank looks grim. David Shulman, The New York Review of Books, 28 Nov. 2023 The first two Warmest Winter projects primarily feature cozy, acoustic-forward arrangements, and the 10 new tracks broaden that soundscape into a wonderland of skittering bass and intimate a cappella joints. Kyle Denis, Billboard, 17 Nov. 2023

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

Word History

Etymology

probably frequentative of English dialect (Scots and northern) skite to move quickly, probably from Old Norse skyt-, stem of skjōta to shoot

First Known Use

1845, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of skitter was in 1845

Dictionary Entries Near skitter

Cite this Entry

“Skitter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/skitter. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

skitter

verb
skit·​ter ˈskit-ər How to pronounce skitter (audio)
: to glide or skip lightly or quickly : skim along a surface

More from Merriam-Webster on skitter

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