shonky
Britishadjective
-
of dubious integrity or legality
-
unreliable; unsound
Etymology
Origin of shonky
C19: perhaps from Yiddish shonniker or from sh ( oddy ) + ( w ) onky
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.
Jarrell-Searcy would go to a public gym before 5am, work a 12-hour ambulance shift transporting non-emergency patients to hospital, before travelling to training at night under shonky floodlights.
From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026
Characters in his bogan version say "g'day", friends are "mates" and those with questionable ethics are deemed "shonky".
From BBC • Nov. 14, 2025
The Guardian declared the movie "toe-curlingly, teeth-furringly, pillow-bitingly ghastly," while the Daily Mail said that the film "takes the romance of the century and turns it into a cheap, shonky and unintentionally hilarious filmus horribilis."
From Salon • Apr. 29, 2021
The engineering of the device is as shonky as the graphic design is good.
From The Guardian • Nov. 1, 2017
If a classic novel’s reputation can survive implausible plotting or underdeveloped characters, then an album can be far more than the sum of its sometimes shonky parts.
From The Guardian • Jan. 14, 2016
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.
