as in to scurry
to move quickly and lightly along a surface
Dry leaves skittered over the sidewalk. Mice skittered across the floor.
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Recent Examples of skitter
And the indium atoms that do get in tend to skitter around on the surface, finally clumping together in a way that hampers light emission.
—
IEEE Spectrum, 26 Feb. 2010
There’s nothing animatronic about the crabs skittering in the turquoise surf on the southeastern tip of Eleuthera in the Bahamas.
—Mark Gauert, Sun Sentinel, 20 Jan. 2025
In an early scene, he is set upon by a shrieking, skittering swarm of creepers—imagine giant, whitish pill bugs with huge mandibles—and expects to be devoured (and resurrected) within seconds.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2025
For a new study in the Journal of Experimental Biology, Weiss and her co-authors recorded skittering cricket frogs from above and below the surface at 500 frames per second and then played the videos back much more slowly.
—Rohini Subrahmanyam, Scientific American, 30 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for skitter
IEEE Spectrum, 26 Feb. 2010
There’s nothing animatronic about the crabs skittering in the turquoise surf on the southeastern tip of Eleuthera in the Bahamas.
—Mark Gauert, Sun Sentinel, 20 Jan. 2025
In an early scene, he is set upon by a shrieking, skittering swarm of creepers—imagine giant, whitish pill bugs with huge mandibles—and expects to be devoured (and resurrected) within seconds.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2025
For a new study in the Journal of Experimental Biology, Weiss and her co-authors recorded skittering cricket frogs from above and below the surface at 500 frames per second and then played the videos back much more slowly.
—Rohini Subrahmanyam, Scientific American, 30 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for skitter
Recent Examples of Synonyms for skitter
Verb
-
My friend scurried to download it, but then the app takes you to a website that requires you to fill out a detailed form and establish an account.—
Scott Kramer,
Forbes.com,
14 July 2025
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Crazy ants, so named because of their erratic movements, scurry below.—
Alina Hartounian,
NPR,
7 July 2025
Verb
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In this example, against Brentford in November 2023, Kudus darts inside the penalty area and attacks the space behind Vitaly Janelt to offer Said Benrahma a crossing option towards the back post.—
Ahmed Walid,
New York Times,
9 July 2025
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Thanks to Oracle Park’s architecture and geometry, the ball took a sharp bounce off the concrete and darted towards left field.—
Justice delos Santos,
Mercury News,
9 July 2025
Verb
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Alcaraz hit a deep defensive shot and recovered quickly, dancing across the court with fleet little steps, and ran around his backhand to hit a forehand down the line.—
Louisa Thomas,
New Yorker,
14 July 2025
-
The reality star continued to post wedding highlights, including videos of himself and Blanco dancing together at their reception.—
Escher Walcott,
People.com,
14 July 2025
Verb
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But 90 seconds later, Spain’s Esther Gonzalez flitted in behind Portugal’s high defensive line, taking down a raking pass from left-back Olga Carmona with her shoulder before bundling the ball beyond Pereira.—
Megan Feringa,
New York Times,
4 July 2025
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Food trucks serving churros, street corn, and empanadas flitted in and out of the facility.—
Ana Ceballos,
Miami Herald,
3 July 2025
Verb
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What was supposed to be down and on the outside corner instead fluttered up and above the zone.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
8 July 2025
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Every exploding firework rocket will eventually tumble and flutter down to the ground in a cloud of debris.—
Jeffrey Kluger,
Time,
4 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Skitter.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/skitter. Accessed 24 Jul. 2025.
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