adj

wonky

WONG-kih

adj

Not straight or properly aligned; wobbly or unstable.

"One leg of the table is shorter, so it sits wonky on the floor."

"His handwriting got wonky near the end of the exam."

Malfunctioning in an inconsistent, hard-to-pin-down way (of a device or system).

"My laptop's trackpad has gone wonky since the last update."

Full of technical detail or jargon; aimed at specialists.

"The policy paper got pretty wonky once it reached the tax formulas."

How to Use Wonky

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishSlightly off, wobbly, or glitchy — or, in a completely different sense, overly technical and detail-heavy.

Common mistake

The "off-kilter/glitchy" sense and the "overly technical" sense are unrelated in practice — context makes clear which one is meant.

Common pairings

a wonky wheel the wifi is being wonky a wonky policy debate

wonkier comparative, wonkier comparative, wonkiest superlative, wonkiest superlative

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One leg of the table is shorter, so it sits _____ on the floor.

From a British dialect word "wanky," itself from Old English wancol, "unstable, shaky."

honky