skitter

verb

Definition of skitternext
as in to scurry
to move quickly and lightly along a surface Dry leaves skittered over the sidewalk. Mice skittered across the floor.

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of skitter The slow-rolling single with skittering drum machine beats mashed against both mens’ drawling vocals is of a piece with Jelly’s frequent lyrical focus on mental health and his battles with substance use. — Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 24 Jan. 2025 Several small, unsecured items fell and skittered across the cabin floor. — Heather Steinberger, Robb Report, 22 Nov. 2024 Arthropleura lived between 290 million and 346 million years ago, skittering around the Earth’s tropical equator alongside other massive arthropods like the two-foot-long scorpion Pulmonoscorpius. — Olatunji Osho-Williams, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Oct. 2024 Any horror novel worth its salt should make the heart race and the spine tingle, as if a great, hairy spider was skittering along each vertebrae. — Jordan Kopy, People.com, 18 Oct. 2024 See All Example Sentences for skitter
Recent Examples of Synonyms for skitter
  1. scurry
  2. dart
  3. dance
  4. flit
  5. flutter
Verb
  • The sound of gunfire at the end of the game sent people scurrying for safety.
    — Robert A. Cronkleton, Kansas City Star, 20 Mar. 2025
  • The idea for Ads for Rats began in the summer of 2024, when a few of the group's members were visiting New York City and saw a rat scurry into the hole of a tree.
    — Greta Cross, USA TODAY, 5 Mar. 2025
Definition of scurry
Verb
  • The air was thick with humidity, and the forest seemed alive with sounds — colorful birds, darting insects, cutting ants, and the frequent rustle of something unseen.
    — Bill Frist, Forbes, 3 Mar. 2025
  • Its story, slender but charged, is in a constant state of retreat, repeatedly darting into psychological and existential alleys just out of view.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 26 Feb. 2025
Definition of dart
Verb
  • For the first time since 2021, Boise State basketball will not be dancing in March.
    — Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman, 17 Mar. 2025
  • As Saxon removed his shirt and Lochlan sipped alcohol out of a shell, everyone danced under the boat’s red lighting.
    — Liza Esquibias, People.com, 17 Mar. 2025
Definition of dance
Verb
  • But flitting across the water on a kiteboard also brings dangers that are not present in surfing.
    — Frederick Dreier, Outside Online, 13 Feb. 2025
  • With a plot that flits between past and present, The Notebook follows Allie (Rachel McAdams) and Noah’s (Ryan Gosling) love affair as told by Noah’s older self (James Garner) at a nursing home to his wife (the late, great Gena Rowlands) suffering from Alzheimer’s.
    — Sezin Devi Koehler, EW.com, 23 Feb. 2025
Definition of flit
Verb
  • Or catch a ferry to Lokrum Island—a 72-hectare nature reserve home to towering pine forests, a medieval Benedictine monastery (established in the 11th century), and botanical gardens where flirty peacocks flutter their feathers.
    — Lewis Nunn, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2025
  • His long-distance shot skimmed off the stick of Niko Mikkola and fluttered past Juuse Saros.
    — Fluto Shinzawa, The Athletic, 13 Feb. 2025
Definition of flutter

Browse Nearby Words

skits
skitter
skittered
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Skitter.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/skitter. Accessed 26 Mar. 2025.

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