- lurk
- lurk vb Lurk, skulk, slink, sneak do not share a common denotation, but they are comparable because the major implication of each word is furtive action intended to escape the attention of others.To lurk is to lie in wait (as in an ambush); the term sometimes implies only a place of concealment{
his faithful Tom . . . with his young master's mare . . . was lurking in a plantation of firs— Meredith
}{around the ends cluster women and children, and outside lurk the boys and girls who are not participating in the dancing— Mead
}but it often also suggests an evil intention, or quiet, stealthy movements, or a readiness to spring upon a victim{there . . . ugly treasons lurk—Shak.
}{if the thought of Rufus-and- Richard-slayers lurking behind trees doesn't bother you— Joseph
}{in the lingering shadows of the great war and the unhappy peace some unseen, alien enemy still lurked— Handlin
}To skulk is usually to move furtively but sometimes to lurk; the word carries a stronger implication than the preceding word either of a sinister intention or of cowardice or fear{disdainful Anger, pallid Fear, and Shame that skulks behind— Gray
}{Death . . . is a scavenger, skulks in charnels, and is the dirtiest of fighters— Sullivan
}{there, skulking like a shadow through the trees, silent as a burglar, came the trim and handsome Cooper's hawk— Peattie
}To slink is to move stealthily or slyly in order not to attract attention{like beasts of prey slinking about a campfire— Conrad
}{after a while I slunk away out of the great circle of firelight into the thick darkness beyond— Hudson
}To sneak is to get out of or into a place by slinking, or out of a difficulty by methods lacking in straightforwardness or definitely underhanded{he sneaked out of the house after his parents had gone to bed
}{rustlers had a way of sneaking onto ranges and dabbing their own brand on unbranded calves— S. E. Fletcher
}{meanly to sneak out of difficulties into which they had proudly strutted— Burke
}Contrasted words: *appear, emerge, loom
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
