Meaning & use
skive
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To stay away from school or work, or avoid your duties, without permission.
Grammar: Often no object: he skived all week. It can take one: skive lessons.
Patterns
- skive off
- skive off school
- skive lessons
He skived off school to go to the beach.
She never skives when there is work to do.
Some of the lads skived the afternoon training session.
nouncountable
An instance of avoiding work or school, or a person who regularly does so.
Grammar: Often used in on the skive or a skive.
Patterns
- on the skive
- a skive
They were on the skive when the teacher came in.
He took a skive on Friday afternoon.
Don't be a skive; help us clear up.
Word forms
| third person singular | skives |
|---|---|
| past tense | skived |
| past participle | skived |
| -ing form | skiving |
Common combinations
- skive off school
- He skived off school twice last week.
- skive off work
- Half the office skived off work to watch the match.
- skive off early
- She skived off early on Friday.
- skive off lessons
- Pupils who skive off lessons risk detention.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bunk off
- Bunk off is also British slang and almost identical in meaning, but it is a little more playful.
- play truant
- Play truant is only for school and sounds more formal than skive.
- play hooky
- Play hooky is the American equivalent for missing school or work.
- shirk
- Shirk is more serious and suggests avoiding a duty or responsibility, not only absence.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: skive or skive vs skive (knife)?
skive vs skive vs skive (knife)
In leather-working, to skive is to cut thin layers off hide, which is a separate technical use of the same spelling.
Practice
Which sentence uses skive correctly?
Choose one answer.
Skive means to avoid school or work. The other options give it meanings it does not have.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “skive”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.