▪ I. wonky, a. slang.
(ˈwɒŋkɪ)
[Obscure: the G. element wankel- has similar force.]
Of a person: shaky, groggy; unstable. Of a thing: faulty, unsound; unreliable.
| 1919 Ld. Northcliffe Let. in Hist. The Times (1952) IV. i. xi. 507 Am weak, and wonky, as the telephone girls say, after a bad morning with the subscribers. 1923 H. C. Bailey Mr Fortune's Practice iii. 81 ‘Who runs the {oqq}Daily Watchman?{cqq}.. It's the wonkiest print on the market.’.. ‘You said {oqq}on the market{cqq}... Corrupt?’ ‘Well, naturally.’ 1925 E. Wallace Strange Countess ix. 83 Financial adviser to some heads of departments, whose accounts went a little wonky. 1929 P. Gibbs Hidden City xvi. 79 It had made his heart jump in a wonky sort of way. 1932 Kipling Limits & Renewals 127 Haman's headlight's wonky. Something must have happened. 1957 Listener 11 July 67 Despite the perfection of isolated lines and phrases..most of the poems seem slightly out of shape, wonky, as if the kiln had not been hot enough. 1958 Observer 23 Feb. 15/5 Would they really have sent her on a dangerous mission with an ankle still wonky from an old parachute fall? 1981 Times Lit. Suppl. 5 June 633/3 The vast majority of murderers are ipso facto acutely wonky, and most frequently wonky in dispiriting and unimaginative ways. 1983 D. Boggis Woman they sent to Fight ii. 17 The window fitted badly, and her chair was..wonky with one short leg. 1984 A. Carter Nights at Circus ii. vii. 156 ‘How's the wonky arm?’ she enquired. He showed his sling. |
Hence ˈwonkiness.
| 1982 Times 29 Apr. 10/8 Do not be disconcerted by its [sc. a book's] wonkiness of style. |
▪ II. wonky, a.2 orig. and chiefly U.S.
Brit. /ˈwɒŋki/, U.S. /ˈwɑŋki/
[‹ wonk n.2 + -y suffix1.]
Bookish, studious, ‘nerdy’. Also (Polit.): excessively concerned with minute points of policy (cf. policy wonk n. at policy n.1 Compounds 2). Cf. wonkish adj. at wonk n.2 Additions
| 1978 C. Trillin Alice, Let's Eat 55 The fantasy I have..is that all our family's financial transactions are handled by a first cousin I have invented, a mildly wonky but lovable financial wizard named Harvey. 1995 New Yorker 30 Jan. 37/2 Like a lot of other shy, wonky guys..he now found himself at capitalism's cutting edge. 1999 Maclean's (Nexis) 19 Apr. 30 Clinton's first national security adviser..labelled it in his wonky way ‘pragmatic neo-Wilsonianism’—a '90s version of Woodrow Wilson's First World War-era vision. 2003 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 2 July a17/5 They're realizing that these things relate to people's lives and are not just wonky policy debates. |