wonky
/ˈwɑŋ.ki/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.84 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Lopsided, misaligned or off-centre.
noun
A subgenre of electronic music employing unstable rhythms, complex time signatures, and mid-range synths.
Uncountable
adj
Technically worded, in the style of jargon.
adj
Technical in nature, difficult for non-specialists to understand.
Example Sentences
- "Who's this gimp with a wonky eye / I don't know but his lips are dry"
- "It seemed likely that he would need First Aid when those wonky steps yielded, at length, to the well-known law of gravitation."
- "“It’s the ‘societal value’ part this looks wonky to me,” Mr. [Lee] McIntyre said in an email to The Times."
- "By the late 2000s, dubstep had splintered into numerous factions, from brostep to wonky to the evocative “purple,” […]"
- "Climate change is an issue that might lend itself more easily to thematic framing in the news, due to the often highly technical and wonky language required to explain it."
- "McCain's message, while similar in content and equally as valid, is lost in the minutiae of “'high-risk' pools” and wonky jargon."
Etymology
From English dialectal wanky, alteration of Middle English wankel (“unstable, shaky”), from Old English wancol (“unstable”), from Proto-West Germanic *wankul (“swaying, shaky, unstable”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: wankel, wancol, *wankul
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈwɑŋ.ki/
- British English: /ˈwɒŋ.kɪ/
Usage
- Australian usage
- New Zealand usage
- British usage
- Informal
- Uncountable