kinky
Americanadjective
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full of kinks; closely twisted.
a kinky wire.
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(of hair) closely or tightly curled.
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Slang. marked by unconventional sexual preferences or behavior, as fetishism, sadomasochism, or the like.
adjective
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slang given to unusual, abnormal, or deviant sexual practices
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informal exhibiting unusual idiosyncrasies of personality; quirky; eccentric
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informal attractive or provocative in a bizarre way
kinky clothes
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tangled or tightly looped, as a wire or rope
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tightly curled, as hair
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of kinky
Explanation
Kinky is a word for unusual things: especially things that are sexually unusual. It's also a term for frizzy hair. As a general term, kinky can refer to anything that is far-out, quirky, or offbeat. More specifically, this is a sexual term for acts that are a little odd, such as a foot fetish. There's also kinky hair: hair with tight curls that is also called crisp, frizzy, and nappy. There's isn't any connection between kinky hair and the first two meanings of kinky. Words just mean different things, and no one knows exactly why.
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.
Bailey lets her displeasure be known by having a friend shave off her beautiful spray of kinky hair.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 14, 2024
The word kinks has many connotations, everything from a kink in a rope, or kinky being quirky, which was really the main thing behind it.
From Slate • Mar. 28, 2023
“Portland, which used to be kinky and weird and a very liberal community, became a very dangerous community where people are no longer enjoying it,” he said.
From New York Times • Oct. 15, 2022
But he also sought to give Black people choices in hairstyles, and as early as 1966 began experimenting with what the authors of “Hair Story” described as “a chemical process to turn kinky hair curly.”
From Washington Post • Jul. 7, 2022
Like the two women he’d encountered before, most wore plain brown tunics, and some had even accentuated their attire with brightly colored leaves woven into their kinky white hair.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
