shaky

shaky

English

Etymology

shake +‎ -y

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃeɪki/
• Rhymes: -eɪki

Adjective

shaky (comparative shakier, superlative shakiest)

1. Shaking or trembling.

   a shaky spot in a marsh

   a shaky hand

2. Nervous, anxious.

   He’s a nice guy but when he talks to me, he acts shaky.

   • 2011 April 10, Alistair Magowan, “Aston Villa 1 - 0 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Villa had plenty of opportunities to make the game safe after a shaky start and despite not reaching any great heights, they were resolute enough to take control of the game in the second half.

3. (of wood) Full of shakes or cracks; cracked.

   shaky timber

   For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:shaky.

4. Easily shaken; tottering; unsound.

   a shaky constitution

   shaky business credit

5. Wavering; undecided.

Synonyms

• (not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over): precarious, rickety, unsteady, tottering, unsafe, unstable, wobbly

Derived terms

• shakiness
• shakycam

Translations

shaking

Catalan: tremolós (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 颤抖 (zh) Dutch: bibberig (nl), trillerig (nl)

Manx: craagh Russian: дрожащий (ru) m (drožaščij) Scots: shooglie Spanish: tembloroso (es)

full of cracks

Russian: растрескавшийся (ru) m (rastreskavšijsja)

unsound

Dutch: onzeker (nl), zwak (nl), gammel (nl) French: instable (fr) Italian: malfermo (it) m

Occitan: instable, malsan, malgalhard Russian: шаткий (ru) m (šatkij), зыбкий (ru) m (zybkij) Scots: shooglie