Standard Lemma guide

shonky

adj · noun · 2 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

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1

adj

Meaning 1

Of poor or dubious quality, shoddy, unreliable; deviously dishonest, fraudulent.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Australia, New-Zealand, UK, informal

Examples

  • 1986, Sociological Association of Australia and New Zealand, ANZJS: The Australian & New Zealand Journal of Sociology, Volume 22, page 475, The argument gets even shonkier when they claim that the boundary between clerical and administrative work is difficult to define anyway, and that routinisation and fragmentation have affected lower and middle management too (pp. 95–6).

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A dishonest person.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Australia, informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From 1970s; possibly from dialectal English shonk (“smart”).