wonky

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won·ky

(wŏng′kē)

adj. won·ki·er, won·ki·est Chiefly British

1. Shaky or unsteady: a wonky table.

2. Out of alignment; crooked: "The door itself looked wonky somehow, not quite square with the building" (Steve Augarde).

3. Not functioning properly or normally: wonky digestion; a wonky phone connection.

4. Mentally unbalanced; crazy.

[Probably alteration of dialectal wanky, alteration of wankle, from Middle English wankel, from Old English wancol, unsteady.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

wonky

(ˈwɒŋkɪ)

adj, -kier or -kiest

1. shaky or unsteady

2. not in correct alignment; askew

3. liable to break down or develop a fault

[C20: variant of dialect wanky, from Old English wancol]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

won•ky

(ˈwɒŋ ki)

adj. -ki•er, -ki•est.

Brit. Informal.

a. shaky; unsteady.

b. unreliable.

[1920–25; perhaps variant of dial. wanky=wank(le) (Middle English wankel, Old English wancol]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Adj.	1.	wonky - turned or twisted toward one side; "a...youth with a gorgeous red necktie all awry"- G.K.Chesterton; "his wig was, as the British say, skew-whiff" askew, awry, cockeyed, skew-whiff, lopsided crooked - having or marked by bends or angles; not straight or aligned; "crooked country roads"; "crooked teeth"
	2.	wonky - inclined to shake as from weakness or defect; "a rickety table"; "a wobbly chair with shaky legs"; "the ladder felt a little wobbly"; "the bridge still stands though one of the arches is wonky" rickety, shaky, wobbly unstable - lacking stability or fixity or firmness; "unstable political conditions"; "the tower proved to be unstable in the high wind"; "an unstable world economy"

wonky

adjective

1. askew, squint (informal), awry, out of alignment, skewwhiff (Brit. informal) The wheels of the trolley kept going wonky.

2. shaky, weak, wobbly, unsteady, infirm He's got a wonky knee. shaky

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

traballante

wonky

[ˈwɒŋkɪ] ADJ (wonkier (compar) (wonkiest (superl))) (Brit)

1. (= wobbly) [chair, table] → cojo, que se tambalea

2. (= crooked) → torcido, chueco (LAm)

3. (= broken down) → estropeado, descompuesto (esp Mex)
to go wonky [car, machine] → estropearse; [TV picture] → descomponerse

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

wonky

[ˈwɒŋki] adj (British) [chair, trolley, wheels] → branlant(e); [knees] → flageolant(e)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

wonky

adj (+er) (Brit inf) chair, marriage, grammar → wackelig; nose → krumm, schief; machine → nicht (ganz) in Ordnung; sense of judgement etc → nicht ganz richtig, aus dem Lot; your hat’s a bit/your collar’s all wonky → dein Hut/dein Kragen sitzt ganz schief

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

wonky

[ˈwɒŋkɪ] adj (-ier (comp) (-iest (superl))) (Brit) (fam) (chair, table) → traballante
to go wonky (TV picture, machine) → fare i capricci

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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