🎲 A cheater 🦈 Aggressive or ruthless 🔺 Shark-like shape

sharky

1 8.8

Acting in a pushy, unfair way to get advantage, often in business

adjective
/ˈʃɑrki/

Informal

: depredador

The sales team employed sharky strategies to outbid their rivals in the auction.

Examples

Her sharky tactics in negotiations made many people wary of working with her.
You know, it's still being naive thinking I can make my way in Hollywood and I like to sort of say that environments have a kind of sharky factor, a sharkiness.
In the competitive business world, some sharky executives will do anything to win clients.

Synonyms

predatory

vssharky

43 6.1

Trying to take advantage of people to get money or power

is about aggressive conduct in business or competition rather than general exploitation

rapacious

vssharky

1 8.4

Hunting and eating other animals for food

is used for aggressive exploitation in people and business rather than literal animal feeding

sharklike

vssharky

1 4.2

That has the shape or behavior of a shark

is about aggressive, ruthless conduct in business or competition rather than mere likeness

sharkish

vssharky

8.8

Being very aggressive and ready to take advantage of others to win

is used mainly for business or competitive behavior rather than general traits

viperous

vssharky

Literature

9.2

Being cruel and speaking sharp words like a poisonous snake

is about aggressive, exploitative conduct in competition rather than mean malice

viperish

vssharky

Literature

8.6

Being mean and trying to hurt people in a secret, sneaky way

is more about aggressive, exploitative conduct in competition than malicious betrayal

Antonyms

gentle

235 1.0

Kind and not strong in action, sound, or touch

cooperative

119 3.5

Willing to work with other people to reach a shared goal

How Aggressive

predatory

43 6.1

ruthless

152 4.9

sharky

Informal

1 8.8

competitive

152 3.9

Surface Forms

sharky positive

Morphology

sharky = shark (transparent) = shark + y

The adjective is a straightforward denominal formation from 'shark' meaning predatory; the metaphorical extension to aggressive business behavior is direct and readily understood.

Etymology

Sharky comes from the animal shark plus the ending -y, which means 'like', and it gives the image of someone who hunts for advantage like a shark hunts its prey, so sharky means acting predatory or ruthless.