timid as a mouse
- idiom
- Informal
:
tímido como un ratón
- At job interviews, he feels timid as a mouse and struggles to answer questions confidently.
Examples
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Whenever she speaks to strangers, she becomes timid as a mouse.
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The puppy was timid as a mouse when it entered its new home.
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She is timid as a mouse when speaking in public.
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Why are you so timid as a mouse around new people?
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He was timid as a mouse during the presentation, barely making eye contact with the audience.
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The timid as a mouse child hid behind her mother when she saw the large crowd.
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Whenever it's her turn to speak, she feels timid as a mouse and often forgets what she wanted to say.
Synonyms
60
3.5
Shy and afraid to do new or risky things
1
9.9
Feeling nervous and afraid to do something new
A quiet shy person who does not speak up
Having small, quiet movements or a very soft voice like a mouse
Antonyms
How Timid
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derived from a simile: 'timid' (shy) compared 'as a mouse' (mice are commonly described as small, quiet, and fearful), so a learner who knows the constituent words can infer the intended comparison. The structure is a standard comparative construction found across many languages and the article 'a' does not add idiomatic meaning, making the expression straightforward for a B1 learner.
Etymology
Timid as a mouse comes from the image of a small, quiet mouse that hides or freezes when it is scared. So it is used to describe someone who is very 'shy' or 'quiet'.