shonky

/ ˈʃɒŋkɪ /

adjective

1. of dubious integrity or legality
2. unreliable; unsound

Word History and Origins

Origin of shonky¹

C19: perhaps from Yiddish shonniker or from sh ( oddy ) + ( w ) onky

Example Sentences

"It's embarrassing that a supposedly world-leading country has such a shonky infrastructure," she says.

From BBC

Now I don’t even hesitate, deploying the same shonky economics I’ve always used to justify spending.

From The Guardian

Perhaps that overwhelmed feeling we have when facing this onslaught of content is what draws us to familiar tokens from childhood, shonky old stories and celluloid-scratched images that set the hippocampus tingling.

From The Guardian

That 2016 movie’s subtitle, Dawn of Justice, was always something of a shonky afterthought that essentially gave away the movie’s ending before we had seen the film’s opening frame.

From The Guardian

The dictionary definition of cult viewing, Matthew Holness’s spoof of shonky British horror barely made a dent when it aired, but has since become regarded as a modern classic.

From The Guardian