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]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj. 1. [画像:wonky - turned or twisted toward one side]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"
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"
unstable - lacking stability or fixity or firmness; "unstable political conditions"; "the tower proved to be unstable in the high wind"; "an unstable world economy"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

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

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, grammarwackelig ; nosekrumm, schief ; machinenicht (ganz) in Ordnung ; sense of judgement etcnicht ganz richtig, aus dem Lot ; your hat’s a bit/your collar’s all wonkydein 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
References in periodicals archive ?
One of my wonkiest jobs as a Foreign Service Officer at the US Embassy in Tokyo was to cover Japan's conduct in commodities groups such as the International Tropical Timber Organization, the International Coffee Organization and the now-defunct International Natural Rubber Organization.
One of the wonkiest issues of the secretary of state's race is turning into one of the biggest topics on the campaign trail.
Tax Reform: In Washington, D.C., these two simple words can cause the eyes of the wonkiest of policy wonks to glaze over.