Standard Lemma guide

rinky-dink

adj · noun · 10 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɹɪŋ.kɪ.dɪŋk/
  • General-American: /ˈɹɪŋkiˌdɪŋk/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of poor quality; amateurish, shoddy, small-time.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, informal

Examples

  • That rinky-dink shelf is likely to collapse if you fill it with books.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ass, bad, base, below par, bottom-shelf, BTEC, bum, cheap, cheap and nasty, cheapshit, cheesy, chintzy, coffee-and, crap, crappo, crappy, craptastic, crapperific, craptabulous, craptacular, cruddy, crummy, dogwater, drecky, flimsy, fourth-rate, gash, garbage, god-awful, inferior, lousy, low, low-grade, low-quality, low-rent, made in China, mid, naughty, one-star, poor, poor man's, pound-shop, punk, rinky-dink, ropy, rubbish, sad, schlocky, scrubby, second-rate, shoddy, slazy, slight, slim, subpar, shit, shite, shitty, substandard, ticky-tacky, tenth-rate, third-rate, tin-pot, trash, trashy, under par, woeful, wretched

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Old-fashioned, tired; also, shabby, worn-out.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: basic, cheugy, cringe, cringey, cringeworthy, dated, démodé, fossilized, inelegant, last year, normie, old, old-fashioned, old-hat, oldfangled, ossified, out, out of date, out of fashion, out of touch, outdated, outmoded, passé, rinky-dink, tacky, unchic, uncool, unfashionable, unhip, unpopular, unstylish, untrendy, clapped out, damaged, defective, deteriorated, dilapidated, effete, faulty, munted, outworn, past it, past one's prime, raddled, ragged, ravaged, rough, shabby, stale, tired, unimproved, wasted, weakened, wrecked, wrecksome, worn, worn-out, worsened

Antonyms: a la mode/à la mode, all the rage, chic, sassy, cool, dapper, done, elegant, fashionable, groovy, happening, hep, hip, in, in fashion, jaunty, modish, natty, on fleek, on trend, pizazzy, spiffing, spiffy, styleworthy, stylish, smart, snazzy, tasteful, tippy, trendy, voguish, up-to-the-minute, with-it, zhoosh

3

adj

Meaning 3

Crooked, dishonest, underhanded.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: earnest, fair dinkum, forthright, downright, upfront, foursquare, frank, genuine, honest, legitimate, on the level, on the up-and-up, square, straight, straight dinkum, straightforward, true, truthful, trustworthy, up front, veracious, veridical

4

adj

Meaning 4

Alternative form of rinky-tink (“tinkling and tinny”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, alt-of, alternative, informal

Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A person who is contemptible or insignificant.

An amateur or someone who is underqualified.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, countable, informal, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: absolute zero, also-ran, chopped liver, cipher, crumb, Joe Nobody, little guy, minnow, nebbish, nobody, no one, nothing, nothingburger, nonentity, picayune, pip-squeak, pleb, peon, prole, puny, quidam, rinky-dink, shrimp, wankstain, zero, zilch, assbucket, asswipe, badling, blatherskite, bugger, carrion, cockstain, custron, dandiprat, doink, dirtbag, douchebag, drop kick, fellow, fritlag, fuckbucket, geek, good-for-naught, good-for-nothing, gooey, hoon, lidderon, losel, loser, louse, maggot, ne'er-do-well, no-good, no-mark, nonce, nought, nowmun, pelf, pig dog, pile of shit, pissant, punk, quat, ramp, roly-poly, scullion, shicer, shitheap, slubberdegullion, sparrow-fart, streak of piss, toerag, truant, twerp, waste of space, underperson, unworthy

Antonyms: baron, big cheese, big enchilada, big gun, big kahuna, big man, big name, big noise, big shot, bigwig, big wheel, boss, grand poobah, head honcho, heavy hitter, heavyweight, high muckamuck, high muckety-muck, king of all one surveys, king of the castle, king of the hill, kingpin, macher, mayor, muckamuck, muckety muck, mugwump, numero uno, panjandrum, poobah, rooster, somebody, top banana, top boy, top cat, top dog, top gun, very important person, VIP, wheel

6

noun

Meaning 6

A person who is contemptible or insignificant.

Someone who operates unethically; specifically, a small-time conman or crook.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, countable, informal, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: absolute zero, also-ran, chopped liver, cipher, crumb, Joe Nobody, little guy, minnow, nebbish, nobody, no one, nothing, nothingburger, nonentity, picayune, pip-squeak, pleb, peon, prole, puny, quidam, rinky-dink, shrimp, wankstain, zero, zilch, assbucket, asswipe, badling, blatherskite, bugger, carrion, cockstain, custron, dandiprat, doink, dirtbag, douchebag, drop kick, fellow, fritlag, fuckbucket, geek, good-for-naught, good-for-nothing, gooey, hoon, lidderon, losel, loser, louse, maggot, ne'er-do-well, no-good, no-mark, nonce, nought, nowmun, pelf, pig dog, pile of shit, pissant, punk, quat, ramp, roly-poly, scullion, shicer, shitheap, slubberdegullion, sparrow-fart, streak of piss, toerag, truant, twerp, waste of space, underperson, unworthy

Antonyms: baron, big cheese, big enchilada, big gun, big kahuna, big man, big name, big noise, big shot, bigwig, big wheel, boss, grand poobah, head honcho, heavy hitter, heavyweight, high muckamuck, high muckety-muck, king of all one surveys, king of the castle, king of the hill, kingpin, macher, mayor, muckamuck, muckety muck, mugwump, numero uno, panjandrum, poobah, rooster, somebody, top banana, top boy, top cat, top dog, top gun, very important person, VIP, wheel

7

noun

Meaning 7

Something that is not up to acceptable standards; something of low quality.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, countable, informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

A miscellaneous object or thing; a thingy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, countable, informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Sorted by number of Google hits, widget, hickey, gizmo, thingy, gimmick, thingie, jigger, gismo, gubbins, whatsit, thingamajig, doodad, whatchamacallit, doohickey, thingo, thingamabob, thingummy, whatsis, thingumajig, thingumabob, whatchacallit, Sorted alphabetically, affair, bazinga, bizzo, chingadera, dealie, dealy, dinglehopper, dingus, dohickey, dojigger, dongle, doo-hickey, doober, doodah, doofer, doohickus, doohinkey, doohinkus, doojigger, doovalacky, foobar, foo, frammis, frobnitz, gadget, geegaw, gewgaw, gingambob, gingumbob, hodad, hootenanny, jawn, jimbang, jobber, jobby, joint, junk, kajigger, kludge, MacGuffin, oojamaflip, rigamajig, shebang, stuff, thingabob, thingamabobber, thingamafuck, thingamajigger, thingamajiggy, thingmabob, thingmajig, thingmy, thingummabob, thingummajig, thingummyjig, thingum, thingymabob, thingymajig, thing, ting, whachacallit, whachamacallit, whaddayacallit, whatchamahoozie, whatdyecallem, whatdoyoucallit, whatnot, whatsaname, whatsitsname, whiff-whaff, whosiewhatsit, whosit, wossisname, wossname, wotsit, yoke, yokibus

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

Deceptive or underhanded rigmarole; deception, trickery; (countable) often preceded by the: an instance of this; a deception, swindle, a trick.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, archaic, informal, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: deception, imposition, hype, deceit, dupery, fiddle, fetch, hocus-pocus, jugglery, legerdemain, list, mislead, prestidigitation, Punic faith, rinky-dink, ruse, sleight of hand, subterfuge, swack, trickery

Antonyms: none provided

10

noun

Meaning 10

Alternative form of rinky-tink (“a tinkling, tinny style of music; honky-tonk”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, alt-of, alternative, informal, uncountable

Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Origin unknown; possibly a variant of rickety (“of an object: not strong or sturdy; of a person: feeble in the joints, tottering”), reduplicated with a change of the initial consonant. The noun is attested earlier than the adjective.

Across languages

Translations

6 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: kelmi — someone who operates unethically
  • Finnish: konna — someone who operates unethically
  • Macedonian: ни́каквец (níkakvec) — someone who operates unethically
  • Polish: szwindel — someone who operates unethically
  • Finnish: kelvoton — something that is not up to acceptable standards; something of low quality
  • Polish: tandeta — something that is not up to acceptable standards; something of low quality