Word

furtive \FUR-tiv\, adjective:

Meaning

1. Done by stealth; surreptitious; secret; as, a furtive look.

2. Expressive of stealth; sly; shifty; sneaky.

3. Stolen; obtained by stealth.

4. Given to stealing; thievish; pilfering.

Examples

He had always been more than willing to show me parts of [his notebook], whenever I asked him to; and naturally I had taken many furtive looks at its innermost pages when he wasn't around.

--Michael Chabon, [1]Werewolves in Their Youth

Exchanging furtive glances, they oozed a nervousness, perhaps in fear that some prewritten script would go awry.

--Michael Bloomberg, [2]Bloomberg by Bloomberg

Why did he keep looking around at all the other tables like that? It made him seem furtive, as if he didn't belong here, as if he were an intruder in so fine a place as this.

--Mary McGarry Morris, [3]Fiona Range

He had reason to be furtive about the parking-lot caper.

--Lilian Jackson Braun, [4]The Cat Who Sang For The Birds

Extra

Furtive is from Latin furtivus, from furtum, "theft," from fur, "thief."

Paragraph

Sharmila always tried to find out if he was giving her a furtive look every time she passed by his table. She knew that he really liked her but kept wondering when he will ever open his mouth. She liked him too but didn’t want to take the first step. All this waiting was frustrating her. Finally, one fine day she caught him giving her that furtive look again and went over to him.

“Why do you stare at me?”

“I…? I .. I didn’t … ”, he stammered really bad.

Sharmila felt bad. She smiled nervously and left without another word.