Shaky

Definition: Shaky

Shaky

Adjective

1. Inclined to shake as from weakness or defect; "a rickety table"; "a wobbly chair with shaky legs"; "the ladder felt a little wobbly"; "the bridge still stands though one of the arches is wonky".

2. Vibrating slightly and irregularly; as e.g. with fear or cold or like the leaves of an aspen in a breeze; "a quaking bog"; "the quaking child asked for more"; "quivering leaves of a poplar tree"; "with shaking knees"; "seemed shaky on her feet"; "sparkling light from the shivering crystals of the chandelier"; "trembling hands".

3. Not secure; beset with difficulties; "a shaky marriage".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "shaky" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1856. (references)

Note: Shaky \Shak"y\, adjective. [Comparative Shakier; superlative Shakiest.]. (references)

Literature

Slang

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

Synonyms: Shaky

Danger

Tottering; unstable, unsteady; shaky, top-heavy, tumbledown, ramshackle, crumbling, waterlogged; helpless, guideless; in a bad way; reduced to the last extremity, at the last extremity; trembling in the balance; nodding to its fall; (destruction). threatening; ominous, illomened; alarming; (fear); explosive.

Fear

Afraid, fearful; timid, timorous; nervous, diffident, coy, faint-hearted, tremulous, shaky, afraid of one's shadow, apprehensive, restless, fidgety; more frightened than hurt.

Weakness

Broken, lame, withered, shaken, crazy, shaky; palsied; decrepit.

Crosswords: Shaky

Work is fine for killin' time, but it's a shaky way to make a living (Maverick; writing credit: Lawrence Menkin)

'Bout a mile outta Shaky Town (Convoy; performing artist: C.W. MCCALL)

I get kinda shaky when they mention you (I think that I'm in love with you; performing artist: Jessica Simpson)

You got me in a shaky mood and everything is fine (Shake It Off; performing artist: Take 5)

Old Shaky (1966)

His Shaky Family Tree (1922)

Shaky Ground (1992)

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

Books

• A Place to Hold My Shaky Heart: Reflections from Life in a Community (reference)

• Hearts at Home: Building Solid Families in a Shaky World (reference)

• On Shaky Ground (reference)

• On Shaky Ground: The New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811-1812 (Missouri Heritage Readers) (reference)

• Shaky Ground (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Steady on the Shaky Ground (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

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

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Health

Some may feel a little shaky or have difficulty getting out of a chair. (references)

It is not unusual to feel bad all over—tired, shaky, washed out—and to feel pain even when not urinating. (references)

Some subjects in an experiment on marijuana withdrawal had symptoms, such as restlessness, loss of appetite, trouble with sleeping, weight loss, and shaky hands. (references)

Business

At the same time, Samsung has a shaky reputation among local operators who believe its non-PBX equipment to be inferior. (references)

Economic History

Zambia

A number of shaky local banks still exist, however. (references)

Colombia

But even though economic indicators confirm a return to steady, albeit slow growth, business and investor confidence remains shaky, with few development decisions being made. (references)

Namibia

The transition got off to a shaky start on April 1 because, in contravention to SWAPO President Sam Nujoma's written assurances to the UN Secretary General to abide by a cease-fire and repatriate only unarmed insurgents, approximately 2,000 armed members of the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), SWAPO's military wing, crossed the border from Angola in an apparent attempt to establish a military presence in northern Namibia. (references)

Political Economy

Austria

Following an initially shaky phase of the OVP/FPO government, characterized by EU sanctions against Austria and international concerns due to the controversial nature of the FPO, Austria's international relations normalized in the second half of the year 2000. In 2000 and 2001, the Austrian government also resolved Nazi era compensation issues by setting up two funds to provide compensation to former forced and slave laborers, and to address gaps and shortcomings in previous restitution programs. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Expressions using "shaky": be shaky ♦ feel shaky ♦ shaky hand ♦ shaky house ♦ shaky writing. Additional references.

Beginning with "shaky": shaky-hand, shaky-looking.

Albanian

që luan, i lëkundshëm (hesitating, jumpy, rocky, unstable, unsteady, vacillating, wavering), i dredhur (crisp, curly, curved, frizzly, frizzy, trembling, trembly, tremulant, tremulous, wobbly). (various references)

Arabic 

‏متقلقل (faltering, tottering, unsteady, upset), ‏متقلب (capricious, changeable, changeful, choppy, fickle, flighty, fluctuant, fluky, freakish, incalculable, inconsistent, inconstant, jumpy, mercurial, mobile, moody, mutable, reversible, rough and tumble, skittish, temperamental, unsettled, unstable, unsteady, variable, versatile, volatile, wavering, wayward, weather vane, whimsical, yeasty), ‏متوعك (indisposed, out of health, poorly, seedy, sickly, sufferer, unwell), ‏متزعزع (insecure, precarious, rickety, slippery, unstable, unsteady, wonky), ‏مترنح (drunken, faltering, groggy, reeling, rocky, staggering, tottering, tottery), ‏متداعي, ‏متداع للسقوط (decrepit, ramshackle), ‏مرتعش (quavering, quavery, quivering, shaking, shivering, shivery, tremulous), ‏ذو صدوع, ‏راجف (trembling). (various references)

Bulgarian 

съсипан (burnt-out, bust, done, prostrate, washed up), съмнителен (alleged, ambiguous, amphibious, dingy, disputable, doubtful, dubious, equivocal, fishy, fly-by-night, hedge, hole-and-corner, indeterminate, moot, off beat, phoney, precarious, problematic, queer, questionable, screwy, seedy, shady, suspect, suspicious, uncertain, unsure, vague), разтреперан (quaky, quavery, shivery), разклатен (dicky, doddered, loose, wonky), разнебитен (beaten up, broken down, crank, cranky, crazy, decrepit, dilapidated, raddle, ramshackle, rickety, unstrung), треперещ (niddle-noddle, quaking, shaking, shivery, trembling, trembly, tremulous, vibrant, wavering), неуверен (diffident, insecure, unassertive, unassured, uncertain, uncool, wonky), несигурен (build on sand, chancy, dangerous, disputable, dubious, equivocal, faltering, halting, insecure, irresolute, long, pendulous, precarious, problematic, queasy, risky, rocky, slippy, suspensive, tentative, top heavy, tottery, treacherous, uncertain, uneasy, unreliable, unresolved, unsafe, unsettled, unsound, unsteady, unsure, untrustworthy, variable, versatile, wonky), ненадежден (fly-by-night, slippery, trustless, unreliable, wonky), немощен (bedridden, decrepit, doddered, faint, frail, infirm, unable), напукан (chappy, cracked, cracky, crannied). (various references)

Chinese 

摇晃 (Dangle, Dangled, Dangling, Ramshackle, swage, Swaging, wobbling). (various references)

Czech

viklavý (wobbly), nejistý (afloat, chancy, cloudy, doubtful, dubious, faltering, fluid, halting, insecure, jumpy, precarious, suspensive, tenuous, uncertain, undecided, uneasy, uneven, unsafe, unsettled, unsound, unsure), chvìjící se (quakerish, quiverful, tremulous, vibrant, wobbly). (various references)

Farsi 

متزلزل (Giddy, Insecure, Ramshackle, Seismic, Unstable), لزان , لرزنده (Quaker, Shuttle, Tremulous), سست (Atonic, Effeminate, Feckless, Floppy, Frail, Groggy, Inactive, Indolent, Insecure, Languid, Lax, Lethargic, Loose, Mild, Rattletrap, Remiss, Rickety, Slack, Sleazy, Slender, Slothful, Supine, Tardy, Tepid, Torpid, Weak), ضعیف (Anemic, Atonic, Infirm, Languid, Lean, Light, Puny, Pusillanimous, Rickety, Sappy, Slack, Slender, Weak). (various references)

French

vacillant, tremblotant (shaking), tremblé, précaire, instable, incertain, chevrotant, chancelant, branlant, bouleversé (shaken), boiteux. (various references)

German

wacklig (ramshackle, ramshackly, shakily, tottering, tottery, uneasy, unsteady, wobbly), schlotterig (shivering, trembling). (various references)

Greek 

κλονιζόμενοσ, κλονούμενοσ, επισφαλήσ (insecure, unsafe, unsound), επισφαλής (precarious, unsafe). (various references)

Hebrew 

לא יציב (groggy, inconstant, spotty, unsettled, unstable, unsteady), רופף (flimsy, precarious, ramshackle, rickety, unstable, wonky), רעוע (breaking, dilapidated, ramshackle, rickety, run down, shattering, tumble down, unsound). (various references)

Hungarian

repedezett (choppy, cracked, cracky, crannied, crazed, flawed, rough), remegő (aflutter, doddering, quaking, quaky, quavering, quavery, shaking, shuddering, trembling, tremulous, trepidant, vibrating), ingatag (fickle, flighty, fugacious, labile, mercurial, mutable, precarious, sandy, shilly-shally), bizonytalan (choppy, cranky, dicey, dim, dubious, elusive, equivocal, faint, faltering, fickle, have cold feet, hazy, hesitating, indefinite, indeterminate, insecure, irresolute, nondescript, obscure, pennky, precarious, questionable, sandy, scratchy, speculative, suspensive, to be in the air, to hang in the air, to hang in the balance, transcendental, uncertain, unsettled, unsteady, unsure, vague, woozy). (various references)

Indonesian

oleng (having a strong roll (of ship)), goyang (stagger, unsteady, wobbly), goncang (onstable, shake, swaying). (various references)

Italian

scosso (affected, shaken, upset), vacillante (failing, flickering, unsteady), traballare (stagger, topple, totter), traballante (rickety, rocky, shaking, wonky), malfermo (delicate, poor, rocky, tipsily, unfirm, unsteadily, unsteady, wobbly), instabile (changeable, inconstant, mobile, temperamental, unstable, unsteady). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

会社の経営が揺らぐ (company's in a shaky financial state). (various references)

Korean 

불안정한 (unstable, unsteady). (various references)

Manx

mettey (boneless, delicate, faint-hearted, prim, soft, supine, tender, weak-minded, yellow), craagh (wavering). (various references)

Pig Latin

akyshay.(various references)

Portuguese

vacilante (faltering, fitful, flickering, floating, limp, rickety, shilly-shally, tipsy, trembling, vacillating, wavering, wobbly, wonky), trêmulo (aspen, doddering, doddery, niddle-noddle, quaking, quaky, shivery, trembling, trembly, tremolo, tremulant, tremulous, unsteady), trôpego (numb), pouco firme (incompact, infirm, insecure, niddle-noddle, rattletrap, shifting, tottering, tottery, uncertain, unsafe, unsound, unstable, unsteady, unsure, weak-kneed, wobbly, wonky), inseguro (brittle, insecure, jumpy, unreliable, unsafe, unstable, unsteady, unsure), incerto (borderline, chancy, double-minded, doubtful, doubting, dubious, fitful, floating, hazardous, incalculable, inconstant, insecure, kittle, lubricous, precarious, problematic, questionable, risky, shifting, slippery, slippy, tottery, touch and go, touch-and-go, unassured, uncertain, undecided, unreliable, unsettled, unstable, unsure), fraco (adynamic, crank, deedless, defective, enervate, failing, faint, feckless, feeble, flabby, flaccid, flimsy, frail, infirm, lank, light, little, low, milk-and-water, pimping, pony, puny, reckling, scrannel, sickly, slight, spineless, spiritless, watery, weak, weak-kneed, weakly, wishy-washy), duvidoso (controversial, disputable, doubtful, doubting, dubious, fishy, questionable, suspicious, unassured, uncertain, unreliable, unsure, untrustworthy), débil (broken, enervate, failing, faint, feeble, fragile, frail, languid, light, pony, puny, reckling, reedy, remote, scrannel, sickly, spiritless, weakly). (various references)

Romanian

slab (adynamic, angular, bad, cold, cranky, crazy, dicky, dim, Dotty, dull, faint, faintly, feckless, feeble, feebly, female, flabby, flaccid, flat, fleshless, flimsy, footless, forceless, frail, gaunt, groggy, helpless, impotent, inner, jaded, jejune, languid, languishing, languorous, lax, lean, Lenten, light, loose, low, meager, meagre, mean, mild, milk and water, namby-pamby, nerveless, one horse, pale, peaked, penny-a-line, pimping, poor, poorly, powerless, quiet, remotely, rickety, scraggy, scrawny, sickly, silly, skinny, slack, slight, small, soft, sorry, spare, squeal, stringent, tender, thin, washy, weak, weakly), tremurãtor (faltering, quaking, quavery, quivering, trembling, tremulous), plin de crãpãturi (rimose), pe care nu se poate conta (slippery), crãpat (broken, chopped, choppy, cleft, cracked, crazy, rimose, split, splitting), bolnav (afflicted, ailing, bad, below the mark, deranged, diseased, ill, invalid, negativist, off the hinges, painful, patient, sick, suffering, unwell), şubred (delicate, disorderly, feeble, flimsy, frail, insecure, ramshackle, rocky, unstable, weak). (various references)

Russian 

шаткий (crazy, grog, groggy, wabbly, wobbly, wonky), нетвердый;шаткий, ненадежный (dicky, fair weather, fast and loose, fly-by-night, incalculable, insecure, precarious, slippery, tricksy, troublesome, trustless, truthless, uncertain, undependable, unreliable, unsafe, unsound, unsure, untrustworthy, wonky), дрожащий (palsied, quaking, quaky, quavery, quivery, shivery, trembly, tremulant, tremulous, vibrant). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

nesiguran (dickey, dicky, diffident, dotty, doubtful, faltering, insecure, precarious, uncertain, uneasy, unsafe, unsound, unsure, waggly, wildcat, wonky), klimav (flimsy, loose, niddle-noddle, rickety, rocky, wobbly, wonky), drhtav (aspen, doddering, doddery, quaking, quaky, quavery, shaking, shivery, trembly, tremulant). (various references)

Spanish

sin ilación, vacilante (faltering, halting, hesitant, indecisive, niddle-noddle, shilly shally, vacillating, wavering), tembloroso (flickering, palsied, quaky, quavering, quavery, quivering, shaking, trembling, trembly), temblón, tambaleante (ramshackle, rickety, staggering, tottering, tottery, wobbly), poco sólido (sloppy), movedizo (loose, maneuverable, mobile, movable, moving, portable, quick, shifting, unsteady), inseguro (diffident, doubtful, doubting, firmless, insecure, loose, self conscious, uncertain, unsafe, unsteady, unsure, untrustworthy), cortado (abbreviated, clipped, corded, crannied, cut, cut with cream, disengaged, felled, off, sour). (various references)

Swedish

svag (faint, feckless, feeble, flimsy, fragile, frail, gone, impuissant, infirm, insubstantial, lame, light, low, mild, milk and water, off, reckling, rickety, shallow, small, subtle, tenuous, unsound, weak, weak-kneed, weakly), skakande (joggle, niddle-noddle, shaking, shattering). (various references)

Turkish

sarsan (convulsive, jarring, staggering), sarsak (a dithering idiot, clumsy, Dickey, dicky, doddering, doddery, jerky, palsied, rocky, tottering, tottery), sarsıntılı (bumpy, jerky), sallantıda (on the rocks), sağlıksız (dodgy, ill, insalubrious, insanitary, sickly, unhealthy, unsanitary, unsound, unwholesome), zayıf (atonic, bad mark, faint, fatless, feeble, feint, flaccid, flagging, frail, gaunt, gracile, invertebrate, lean, low, nerveless, pithless, poor, puny, sinewless, slight, slim, small, spare, spent, thin, unmanly, weak, wishy washy, wishywashy), titrek (doddering, doddery, faltering, flickering, plangent, quavery, shaking, shivery, tipsy, trembling, tremulous, wavering, wavy, wobbly), güçsüz (crank, doughy, feeble, flabby, helpless, impotent, ineffectual, powerless, sapless, sinewless, strengthless, weak), şüpheli (chancy, contestable, creaky, debatable, discredited, disputable, dodgy, doubtful, dubious, dubitative, equivocal, fishy, funny, funny peculiar, hazardous, indecisive, indefinable, murky, nebulous, precarious, problematic, problematical, sceptical, screwy, shadowy, shady, skeptical, speculative, suspect, suspenseful, suspicious, umbrageous, uncertain, unconvincing), çatlamış (chapped, chappy, cracked, split), çatlak (balmy, barmy, break, chap, chapped, chappy, chink, chip, cleft, cloven, crack, crack-brained, cracked, crackers, cracky, cranny, crevasse, crevice, cuckoo, disordered, fault, fissure, flaw, fracture, fractured, hoarse, interstice, interstitial, meshuggah, nut, nutty, off one's chump, off one's rocker, pixilated, potty, queer, queer in the head, rift, rupture, rusty, screwy, shake, shaken, split, spring, touched). (various references)

Ukrainian

хиткий (crazy, dicky, rickety, sandyish, tottery, wabbly, waggly, weak, wobbly, wonky), третячий, неміцний (insubstantial, rotten, sketchy, sleazy, slight, ticklish, unsubstantial, unwholesome, weak). (various references)

Vietnamese 

yếu không vững chãi, run, hay dao động, dễ lung lay. (various references)

Welsh

simsan (rickety, tottering, unsteady), sigledig (rickety, unstable). (various references)

instabile, instabiles, instabilis, instabilitatis. (various references)

shackly. (various references)

Misspellings

"Shaky" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Isshiki, sahk, sakie, saky, Sakya, Schak, Schetky, shaby, Shach, shacky, shacl, shafy, shagy, shak, shaka, shakey, shakih, shamy, shapka, Sharkie, Sharky, shary, shawk, Shayi, sheiky, shek, Sheku, Shepkey, sheyk, Shifki, shiki, Shukr. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: ashy, hays, kays, shay, yaks.

-2 letters: ash, ask, ays, has, hay, kas, kay, say, sha, shy, ska, sky, yah, yak.

-3 letters: ah, as, ay, ha, ka, sh, ya.

+2 letters: bashlyk, hawkeys, shakily, yashmak.

+3 letters: bashlyks, hackneys, haycocks, hayforks, hayracks, hayricks, haystack, rakishly, yashmaks.

+4 letters: gawkishly, gymkhanas, hawkishly, haymakers, haystacks, kaffiyehs, knavishly, latchkeys, mawkishly, paychecks.

+5 letters: freakishly, jayhawkers, kymographs, mythmakers, prankishly, thylakoids, unshakably.