agley

American

[uh-glee, uh-gley, uh-glahy] / əˈgli, əˈgleɪ, əˈglaɪ /

Or agly

adverb

Chiefly Scot.

off the right line; awry; wrong.

agley British

/ əˈɡliː, əˈɡliː, əˈɡleɪ, əˈɡlaɪ /

adverb

awry; askew

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of agley

1775–85; a- ¹ + gley glee ²

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

But, in pure common sense, his diagnosis of what went disastrously agley is spot on.

From The Guardian • Feb. 24, 2013

In the ensuing royal houseparty to bring the nervous pair together, this well-laid plan went sadly agley.

From Time Magazine Archive

At Ann Arbor, Mich, restless with the knowledge that something is agley in undergraduatedom, President Marion LeRoy Burton of Michigan University called to him Robert C. Angell of the Sociology Department.

From Time Magazine Archive

When one defiant man�Premier Moise Tshombe of the Congo's rebellious Katanga province�threatened resistance to the U.N. forces, all Hammarskjold's carefully laid plans went agley.

From Time Magazine Archive

Simon adjusted his wig, which had gang agley once more.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023