shaky
Americanadjective
-
shakier,
comparative
-
shakiest
superlative
-
tending to shake or tremble.
-
trembling; tremulous.
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liable to break down or give way; insecure; not to be depended upon.
a shaky bridge.
-
wavering, as in allegiance.
His loyalty, always shaky, was now nonexistent.
adjective
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tending to shake or tremble
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liable to prove defective; unreliable
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uncertain or questionable
your arguments are very shaky
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of shaky
Explanation
Something shaky is trembling — or just feels like it. When we're not confident, we feel shaky. Being shaky is something that happens to us all. The first day of a job or class can make anyone feel shaky — even the teacher or boss. When you get extremely nervous, your hands might literally shake. That's not fun, but it might help you remember what shaky means. A building in an earthquake and a tree in the wind can also be shaky. One person we hope is not shaky — in either way — is a surgeon.
Vocabulary lists containing shaky
Common Five-letter Words for Wordle, List 3
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Feeling Faint: Synonyms for "Weak"
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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.
See Examples For:
Gianluigi Donnarumma: Had a shaky start but made a string of good saves early in the second half to deny Koumas and Gravenberch and keep the game level.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
That’s some shaky ground on which to repair bruised friendships.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026
Tennessee’s failed execution of Christa Pike this week has resulted in fresh scrutiny of the shaky and secretive supply chain for lethal injection drugs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
While this is a true crime story with shaky alibis and prosecutorial misconduct, it is less a whodunit and more a nuanced exploration of reasonable doubt and how our system works or doesn’t.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
It’s one of those push down and turn things and my stupid shaky fingers aren’t cooperating.
From "Popcorn" by Rob Harrell
But he said they are shakier than in 2008.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
But UBS analysts said the company could try to give itself more flexibility for a wider range of outcomes in its financial forecast, due to the the leadership change and a shakier economic backdrop.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 5, 2026
The same could be said of Lesli Margherita’s Mrs. Lovett, the proprietor of a filthy and failing Fleet Street pie shop, but it’s a shakier case.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2026
But pinning hopes for those gains on retail investors is shakier.
From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026
It was almost perfect, just a fraction flatter and shakier than Betty Jean’s voice had been, the o’s and ah’s parodies of Betty Jean’s pretentious ones.
From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson
“OpenAI’s nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations,” Apple’s complaint said, accusing the AI lab of “a pattern of theft.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
"OpenAI's nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets," the complaint said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
That is one element of this which the committee is doubtless going to want to probe further, and perhaps where Sir Olly felt on shakiest ground.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2026
Then came a 10-foot stretch in which you had to swing yourself between vertically hanging ropes, with only the shakiest of footing below.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 14, 2023
Morgan to buy it by offering a knockdown price and guaranteeing Bear Stearns’s shakiest assets.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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.
