[ UK /ʃˈe‍ɪdi/ ]
[ US /ˈʃeɪdi/ ]
ADJECTIVE
  1. quiet, dark, or concealed
    her shady past intrigued him
    a shady part of town
  2. filled with shade
    cool umbrageous woodlands
    the surface of the pond is dark and shadowed
    we sat on rocks in a shadowy cove
    the shady side of the street
  3. not as expected
    a shady deal
    some definitely queer goings-on
    her motives were suspect
    suspicious behavior
    up to some funny business
    there was something fishy about the accident
  4. of questionable honesty or legality
    He established a dummy company through which he laundered vast sums of cash from shady middlemen and arms dealers

How To Use shady In A Sentence

  • A delectable path, for example, runs up behind the cemetery, bordered by butterfly orchids and lithospermum and aristolochia and other plants worthy of better names; it winds aloft, under shady chestnuts, with views on either side. Alone
  • I have a feeling that someone has all the email from both accounts, and they are right now in some sort of shady deal to sell the data to $someone (or perhaps to Palin herself). MetaFilter Projects
  • The best solution is to prepare the cuttings, then leave them in a cool, shady place for half an hour. The Sun
  • It takes 40 minutes to drive to the beach or 35 minutes to get to Kyogle's green, shady, treed public pool that caters for toddlers.
  • While SocGen management has called Kerviel a trader "without genius" who was "acting alone," French bloggers are touting his "lucidity" and bravery for standing up to a system that "brings up its shady dealings only when they are unfavorable to them. France’s New Anti-Hero
  • Rhus Bucki-Amelam is common here, an Oxalis occurs in very shady places with fleshy leaves, it is so large that it is scarcely referrible to O. corniculata. Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and the Neighbouring Countries
  • Ivaric raced down to the stables, shouted at a groom to saddle his grey horse Maila, and smiled as he saw his father sitting in a shady arbour at one end of the courtyard, looking thoughtful.
  • Masses of pink light up shady places where the false dragonhead grows, and the jewel weeds are thickly hung with pendant blossoms of orange and pale yellow. Some Summer Days in Iowa
  • Discover the hermit thrush as you hike through shady maple and hemlock groves, or encounter bobolinks in golden hayfields and northern waterthrush in subarctic swamplands.
  • In shady corners, deeper in the wood, the fragrant pyrola lifted its scape of clustering bells, like a lily of the valley wandered to the forest. Little Rivers; a book of essays in profitable idleness
View all