dodgy

American  

[doj-ee] / ˈdɒdʒ i /

adjective

dodgier, dodgiest

1. inclined to dodge.

2. evasively tricky.

   a dodgy manner of dealing with people.

3. Chiefly British. risky; hazardous; chancy.

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dodgy British  

/ ˈdɒdʒɪ /

adjective

1. risky, difficult, or dangerous

2. uncertain or unreliable; tricky

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Etymology

Origin of dodgy

First recorded in 1860–65; dodge + -y ¹

Explanation

A dodgy situation is risky and suspicious. A dodgy person is skilled in lying and deceiving. Neither should be trusted. When a person or situation is called dodgy, it's a clue that they should be dodged if at all possible. A job might be dodgy because it's illegal or dangerous. A shortcut might be dodgy if it could damage your car. Running a marathon without preparation is very dodgy. Similarly, a dodgy person is untrustworthy because they’re evasive, cunning, sly, or just a flat-out liar.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dodgy dodgier dodgiest

He wrote: "There's only room for one English person doing dodgy Scottish accents in the political arena. This is an attack on my business model."

From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026

June, now 63, said her home office at the time had a dial-up modem, trading software downloaded from a compact disc and a dodgy internet connection.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026

And when the lenders have a lot of leverage, rely on dodgy credit ratings or are influenced to lend by regulatory demands, prepare for serious problems.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 10, 2026

“We should worry about tight lending standards getting that bit tighter, lower rated credit spreads getting priced that bit wider, and perceived dodgy or vulnerable exposures coming under more scrutiny.”

From Barron's ● Mar. 23, 2026

She meant that the ladder was dodgy and the floorboards up there were weak.

From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler

Banks are also beautifying their books through “significant risk transfers,” or SRTs, that shift potentially dodgier assets off balance sheet.

From Barron's ● Oct. 25, 2025

It’s toned down the dodgier side of its humor, but it still has its sporadic 21st century pop culture references.

From The Verge ● Mar. 7, 2019

Kayla will later deal with scarier and dodgier situations than these run-of-the-mill indignities, even if Eighth Grade mercifully never goes as dark as first-time writer-director Bo Burnham sometimes seem to hint it will.

From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2018

His assault is both on the offshore tax havens and on the often dodgier, if less well-known, practices in onshore jurisdictions such as Delaware—or London.

From Economist ● Jun. 13, 2013

There was no smarter trader, and none dodgier, in the islands. 

From Island Nights' Entertainments by Stevenson, Robert Louis

Through the dodgiest situations, brother and sister do not hesitate to argue.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2026

So, she walks, in darkness and icy rain, through the dodgiest parts of the city.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 4, 2016

Money arrives to Manafort circuitously, sometimes through the dodgiest of routes.

From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2016

Even the studio and one-bedroom apartments in “Block B”, long considered the dodgiest of the six, are now thought to be bijou.

From Economist ● Feb. 25, 2016

The reason to describe the plot in only the hedgiest and dodgiest of terms isn’t so much to avoid spoilers as to avoid giving away the only thing the movie’s got.

From The New Yorker ● Dec. 16, 2015

Related Words

• evasive
• shifty