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Here's one for the word-puzzle lovers. Name three qualities that the word skulk shares with each of the following words: booth, brink, cog, flit, kid, meek, scab, seem, and skull. If you noticed that all of the terms on that list have just one syllable, then you've got the first, and easiest, similarity. The next two require some special knowledge: all of the words are of Scandinavian origin and all were first recorded in English in the 13th century. As for skulk specifically, its closest known Scandinavian relative is the Norwegian dialect word skulka, which means “to lie in wait” or “to lurk.” Skulk is also used—though less often—as a noun, referring either to “one that skulks” or to a group of foxes, animals often held to be furtively lurking around.
Synonyms
Examples of skulk in a Sentence
Neal Rubin, Detroit Free Press, 11 Jan. 2024
Pete Davidson skulks amusingly around the edges as Keith’s sub-ne’er-do-well brother.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 8 Sep. 2023
In Miami, for skulking off with super-secret White House documents and spreading them like confetti around his Mar-a-Lago estate.
—Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 15 Aug. 2023
With water levels falling in the swampy area, exposing roots and other brush, embers can skulk underfoot until the right conditions allow the fire to grow again.
—Phil McCausland, NBC News, 29 Aug. 2023
The shorter brooding time probably reduces the embryo’s risk to predators skulking around to eat the eggs, such as shrimp.
—Kasha Patel, Anchorage Daily News, 23 Aug. 2023
In the clip, the entrepreneur is seen skulking around outside the grocery store at 5:24 a.m. before entering.
—Sam Burros, Peoplemag, 9 Aug. 2023
In February, the model skulked down the Luis de Javier runway for a Valentine’s Day show at New York Fashion Week.
—USA TODAY, 3 Aug. 2023
The hillsides weren’t yet in bloom, and fog skulked around the mountains in the distance, sloped and faded.
—Lizzie Johnson and Lauren Tierney, Anchorage Daily News, 27 July 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'skulk.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Skulk.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/skulk. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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