adj
Meaning 1
Shaking or trembling.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- a shaky spot in a marsh
- a shaky hand
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
shaky
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.
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/ˈʃeɪki/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -eɪki
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CMU ARPABET: SH EY1 K IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Nervous, anxious.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- He’s a nice guy but when he talks to me, he acts shaky.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 3
Full of shakes or cracks; cracked.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- shaky timber
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:shaky.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 4
Easily shaken; tottering; unsound.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- a shaky constitution
- shaky business credit
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 5
Wavering; undecided.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 6
not secure; beset with difficulties
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- a shaky marriage
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: precarious
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 7
inclined to shake as from weakness or defect
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- 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
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: rickety, wobbly, wonky
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 8
vibrating slightly and irregularly; as e.g. with fear or cold or like the leaves of an aspen in a breeze
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- 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
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: shivering, trembling
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From shake + -y.
Across languages
Translations
37 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: треперещ (treperešt) — unstady, wobbly
- Bulgarian: тресящ се (tresjašt se) — unstady, wobbly
- Cebuano: huyang — unstady, wobbly
- Esperanto: nestabila — unstady, wobbly
- Hungarian: rozoga — unstady, wobbly
- Ingrian: hatara — unstady, wobbly
- Catalan: tremolós — shaking
- Chinese Mandarin: 颤抖的 (chàndǒu de) — shaking
- Chinese Mandarin: 发抖的 (fādǒu de) — shaking
- Dutch: bibberig — shaking
- Dutch: trillerig — shaking
- Esperanto: tremanta — shaking
- Manx: craagh — shaking
- Plautdietsch: schlakrich — shaking
- Plautdietsch: flautrich — shaking
- Russian: дрожащий (drožaščij) — shaking
- Scots: shooglie — shaking
- Spanish: tembloroso — shaking
- Swedish: skakig — shaking
- Russian: растрескавшийся (rastreskavšijsja) — full of cracks
- Bulgarian: разклатен (razklaten) — unsound
- Bulgarian: неустойчив (neustojčiv) — unsound
- Dutch: onzeker — unsound
- Dutch: zwak — unsound
- Dutch: gammel — unsound
- Esperanto: tremema — unsound
- French: instable — unsound
- Italian: malfermo — unsound
- Latin: instābilis — unsound
- Māori: tūretireti — unsound
- Occitan: instable — unsound
- Occitan: malsan — unsound
- Occitan: malgalhard — unsound
- Russian: шаткий (šatkij) — unsound
- Russian: зыбкий (zybkij) — unsound
- Scots: shooglie — unsound
- Swedish: skakig — unsound