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

Askew

Definition: Askew

Askew

Adjective

1. Turned or twisted toward one side; "a...youth with a gorgeous red necktie all awry"- G.K.Chesterton.

Adverb

1. 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: Askew

Synonyms: awry(p) (adj), cockeyed (adj), lopsided (adj), wonky (adj), awry (adv). (additional references)

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Synonyms within Context: Askew

ContextSynonyms 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.

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Crosswords: Askew

English words defined with "askew": AgleyOblique archSideling. (references)
Specialty definitions using "askew": ALL ASKEWSKEWVOW. (references)

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Modern Usage: Askew

DomainUsage

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.

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Commercial Usage: Askew

DomainTitle

Books

  • An Askew View: The Films of Kevin Smith (reference)

  • Life Askew (reference)

  • The Examinations of Anne Askew (Women Writers in English 1350-1850) (reference)

  • The Underground Guide to Color Printers: Slightly Askew Advice on Getting the Best from Any Color Printer (Underground Guide Series) (reference)

  • Underground Guide to UNIX: Slightly Askew Advice from a UNIX Guru (reference)

    (more book examples)

  

Music

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Askew

Illustrations:
Askew

More pictures...

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Photo Album: Askew

ThumbnailDescription & 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.

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Usage Frequency: Askew

"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 SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words
Rank in English
Adjective (general or positive)77.65%6641,290
Noun (proper)22.35%1980,337
                    Total100.00%85N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Name Usage Frequency: Askew

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.
NameUsage/GenderUsage per 100
million Persons
Rank in USA
AskewLast name7,0001,932
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Cities: Askew


1. Askew, MS
Zip Code(s): 38621
Country: USA

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Expression: Askew

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.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Askew

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.
 
ExpressionFrequency
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.

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Modern Translation: Askew

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, . (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.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Askew

LanguagePeriodTranslations
Latin500 BCE-Modern

lima, limo, limum, perversa, perversae, perversarum, perverse, perversi, perverso, perversorum, perversus. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Askew

Derivations

Words beginning with "askew": askewness, askewnesses. (additional references)


Misspellings

"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).

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Rhyming with "Askew"

# of Phoneme MatchesPronunciationWord(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.

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Anagrams: Askew

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.

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INDEX

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.