Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Askew |
AskewAdjective1. Turned or twisted toward one side; "a...youth with a gorgeous red necktie all awry"- G.K.Chesterton. Adverb1. Turned or twisted to one side; "rugs lying askew"; "with his necktie twisted awry". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "askew" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1374. (references) |
Note: Askew \A*skew"\, adverb & adjective. [Prefix a- + skew.]. (references) |
Synonyms: AskewSynonyms: awry(p) (adj), cockeyed (adj), lopsided (adj), wonky (adj), awry (adv). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Distortion | Adjective: distorted; Verb: out of shape, irregular, asymmetric, unsymmetric, awry, wry, askew, crooked; not true, not straight; on one side, crump, deformed; harelipped; misshapen, misbegotten; misproportioned, ill proportioned; ill-made; grotesque, monstrous, crooked as a ram's horn; camel backed, hump backed, hunch backed, bunch backed, crook backed; bandy; bandy legged, bow legged; bow kneed, knock kneed; splay footed, club footed; round shouldered; snub nosed; curtailed of one's fair proportions; stumpy; (short); gaunt; (thin); bloated; scalene; simous; taliped, talipedic. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Askew |
| English words defined with "askew": Agley ♦ Oblique arch ♦ Sideling. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "askew": ALL ASKEW ♦ SKEWVOW. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | It was askew. (Monk; writing credit: Andy Breckman; David Breckman) I mean, what are you, the Askew Police (Monk; writing credit: Andy Breckman; David Breckman) Yes, I'm the Askew Police (Monk; writing credit: Andy Breckman; David Breckman) One on't cross beams gone owt askew on treddle (Monty Python's Flying Circus; writing credit: Douglas Adams; Graham Chapman) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | ![]() | Portrait of Pvt. William S. Askew, Company A, (Newman Guards) 1st Georgia Infantry, C.S.A. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| "Askew" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 77.65% of the time. "Askew" is used about 85 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 77.65% | 66 | 41,290 |
| Noun (proper) | 22.35% | 19 | 80,337 |
| Total | 100.00% | 85 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "askew" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Askew | Last name | 7,000 | 1,932 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
1. Askew, MS |
Expressions using "askew": cut askew ♦ look askew at. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "askew": half-askew. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
an askew view | 165 |
askew | 31 |
askew news | 9 |
anne askew | 7 |
askew production view | 7 |
askew veiw | 5 |
askew fan fiction view | 5 |
luke askew | 5 |
askew bj | 4 |
vincent askew | 3 |
askew b.j | 3 |
askew desmond | 3 |
askew family | 2 |
askew grill | 2 |
askew chris | 2 |
askew john | 2 |
askew verbena | 2 |
dement askew gammon dement | 2 |
askew jeff | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "askew"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | skiç (askance, rakish, sideways), shtrembër (asquint, atilt, awry). (various references) | |
Arabic | منحرف (aslant, awry, bent, deflector, depraved, devious, errant, inclined, oblique, perverse, skew, slant, slanted, slanting, tilted), غير مستقيم (uneven), أعوج (awry). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | килнато, накриво (acock, aslant, asquint, athwart, awry, criss cross, haywire). (various references) | |
Chinese | 歪斜, 歪 . (various references) | |
Czech | nakřivo (aslant, awry), šikmo (awry, slantwise). (various references) | |
Farsi | چپ چپ (Askance, Awry), کج (Askance, Awry, Crank, Crump, Devious, Gauche, Indirect, Lopsided, Sidelong, Sinister, Slant, Snafu, Thwart, Wry), اریب وار, باگوشه ء چشم . (various references) | |
Finnish | vinossa (at an angle, on one side), viistossa (diagonally, obliquely), viistoon (diagonally, obliquely), karsaasti (unkindly). (various references) | |
French | de travers (aslant), de guingois. (various references) | |
German | seitwärts (askance, laterally, sidelong, sideward, sidewards, sideways), schräg (aslant, at an angle, bevel, beveled, diagonal, diagonally, fishy, inclinated, inclined, leaning, oblique, obliquely, off the straight, on the bias, on the cross, on the slant, skew, slanted, slanting, slantwise, slantwisely, sloped, sloping, sloppily, squint eyed, suspicious, transversal, weird). (various references) | |
Greek | στραβά (amiss, awry). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מצטלב (crossed, crosswise), טוי (bent, extended, inclined, stretched). (various references) | |
Hungarian | lejtõs (aslope, downhill, inclined, sloping, steep), ferdén (askance, aslant, aslope, athwart, awry, crookedly, diagonally, on the bias, on the skew, on the slant, slantwise, thwart). (various references) | |
Indonesian | miring (aslant, awry, bias, cant, careen, crazy, oblique, slanting, sloping, wry), genyot (awry), genjang (rhomboid), erang-erot (awry, zig-zag), benyek (soft). (various references) | |
Italian | obliquo (askance, cross, devious, indirect, lopsided, oblique, sidelong, sideward, slanting, sloped, sloping, slopingly, transversal, underhand, wry). (various references) | |
Manx | ry-scoidey (aslope, a-tilt). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | askeway.(various references) | |
Portuguese | torto (awry, cambered, criss-cross, crooked, lopsided, tortile, wry), de lado (aside, askance, askant, bias, side, sideling, sidelong, sideward, sidewards, sideways, up), de esguelha (sideling, sidelong, slantwise, wry). (various references) | |
Romanian | strâmb (aslant, awry, cock eyed, crooked, crookedly, curved, lop-sided, slanting, slantwise, wrong, wry), pieziş (aslant, asquint, awry, hostile, oblique, obliquely, scowling, slanting, splay, wry), chiorâş (askance, askant, asquint, awry, squint). (various references) | |
Russian | косо (askance, aslant, aslope, asquint, awry, slantwise). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | prezrivo (contemptuously, scornfully), nakrivo (acock). (various references) | |
Spanish | torcido (awry, bent, crooked, distorted, furious, kinky, strained, turned, wry), sesgo (askance, cant, lopsided, slant, slanting, sloping, turn, twist, warp, wry), ladeado (inclined, leaned, lopsided), de soslayo (sidelong, sideward, sidewards, sideway, sideways, sidewise), de reojo (askance, sideward, sidewards, sideway, sideways, sidewise). (various references) | |
Swedish | på sned (aslant, awry, on a slant, on one side, sideways, slantways, slantwise). (various references) | |
Thai | เฉ. (various references) | |
Turkish | yanlamasına (aslant, edgeways, edgewise, laterally, sidelong, sideward, sidewards, sideways, sidewise), yana doğru (laterally, sideward, sidewards, sidewise), eğri olarak (aslant, aslope), çarpık (agley, awry, cockeyed, crooked, curved, irregular, paralysed, skew, warped, wry). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | скоса (askance), криво (askance), косо (askance, aslant, aslope, athwart, awry, obliquely, sidelong, sideway, sideways, sidewise, slant, slantwise, splay), косий (awry, bevel, boss-eyed, cock eyed, cockeyed, cross-eyed, diagonal, oblique, sidelong, sideway, sideways, sidewise, skew, slant, slanting, splay), зневажливо (depreciatingly, disparagingly), похилий (aslope, canting, declining, downhill, inclined, oblique, prone, sidelong, slanting, sloping). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | xiên (asquint, bias, oblique, slanting, slantways, slantwise), nghiêng (asquint, over, sideling, skew, slant, slanting, slantways, slantwise, slopewise, sloping), lệch. (various references) | |
Welsh | ar osgo, ar letraws (awry), lletbai (awry, oblique). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | lima, limo, limum, perversa, perversae, perversarum, perverse, perversi, perverso, perversorum, perversus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "askew": askewness, askewnesses. (additional references) | |
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"Askew" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Akawi, Aksel, akses, asake, Asakku, aschew, ashew, aske, askel, asken, Askeo, askes, askewe, askey, Asko, Asoke, astew, eskew, Kaske, Sankawa. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "askew" (pronounced uskyuw") |
| 4 | -s k y uw" | miscue, skew. |
| 3 | -k y uw" | cue, queue. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: wakes, wekas. | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-k-s-w" | |
-1 letter: awes, kaes, keas, sake, skew, waes, wake, weak, weka. | |
-2 letters: ask, awe, kae, kas, kea, sae, saw, sea, sew, ska, wae, was. | |
-3 letters: ae, as, aw, es, ka, we. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-k-s-w" | |
+1 letter: awakes, tweaks, wackes, wakens, wakers, wreaks. | |
+2 letters: awakens, gawkers, gawkies, hawkers, hawkeys, hawkies, keyways, knawels, rewakes, sawlike, skiwear, swacked, swanked, swanker, wackoes, waesuck, walkers, weakens, weakest, weakish. | |
+3 letters: bikeways, casework, gawkiest, hawknose, newshawk, newspeak, pawkiest, reawakes, rewakens, seatwork, sidewalk, skewback, skewbald, squawked, squawker, swankest, swankier, swanlike, twankies, wackiest, waesucks, wakeless, wakeners, wasplike, weakfish, weakness, weakside, weekdays, wetbacks, whackers, wickapes, wreakers. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Names: Frequency 10. Cities 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.