Standard Lemma guide

skulker

noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Agent noun of skulk; one who skulks.

One who stays where they cannot be seen (often in a cowardly way or with the intent of doing harm).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1894, William Taylor Adams (as Oliver Optic), Brother Against Brother, or The War on the Border, Boston: Lee and Shepard, Chapter 22, p. 274, Our men, from their position, can’t see these skulkers, who will have a good chance to pick off some of them at their leisure.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Agent noun of skulk; one who skulks.

One who moves in a stealthy or furtive way; one who comes or goes while trying to avoid detection.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1800, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (translator), The Death of Wallenstein by Friedrich Schiller, Act I, Scene 7, in Wallenstein. A Drama in Two Parts, London: Longman and Rees, p. 24, O that thou hadst believ’d me! Yester evening Did we conjure thee not to let that skulker, That fox, Octavio, pass the gates of Pilsen. Thou gav’st him thy own horses to flee from thee.
  • 1911, Charles G. D. Roberts, Neighbors Unknown, New York: Macmillan, Chapter “The Bull of the Barrens,” p. 205, In the meantime the pack, maddened by failure and ravenous from the view of food denied, had resumed the trail of the man. They were different beings now from the wary skulkers who had been following him from afar.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Agent noun of skulk; one who skulks.

One who avoids an obligation or responsibility.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: shirk, shirker, skulk

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

someone waiting in concealment

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: lurker, lurcher

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: waiter

5

noun

Meaning 5

someone shirking their duty by feigning illness or incapacity

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: malingerer, shammer

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: slacker, shirker

History

Etymology

From skulk + -er.