out of joint

1. See nose out of joint .

2. Out of order, inauspicious or unsatisfactory, as in The entire lineup of our team is out of joint . Shakespeare had this term in Hamlet (1:5): “The time is out of joint.” [Early 1400s]

3. Dislocated, as in Trying to break his fall, he put his shoulder out of joint . [Late 1300s]

Example Sentences

And yet, one returns to Jacobs not out of nostalgia but from a curiosity to see how this man of prodigious talent, now shorn of the infrastructure of self-enlargement, is faring in a time out-of-joint.

From New York Times

As the locals’ recruiting rankings stall or drop, the Ducks continue to take players from underneath their out-of-joint nose, building that rare Pac-12 Conference team that could actually outmuscle a Big Ten Conference hulk.

From Los Angeles Times

And for a few ecstatic moments, theatergoers can pretend that this crazy, out-of-joint universe is their palpable, personal plaything.

From New York Times

Fountain isn’t a showy writer, but there’s a fever-dream quality to his account of those five minutes that “made the earth ring like a bell” that captures the hallucinogenic oddness of a world off-kilter, out-of-joint, suddenly uncooperative.

From Los Angeles Times

This was the logical climax of the whole misbegotten day, this whole out-of-joint term at Devon.

From Literature

Related Words

• adrift
• astray
• bewildered
• lost
• perplexed
• unhinged
• unsettled