cockeyed

[ kok-ahyd ]

adjective

1. cross-eyed.
2. having a squinting eye.
3. twisted, tilted, or slanted to one side.
4. Slang.
   1. foolish; absurd.
   2. intoxicated; drunk.
   3. completely wrong.

cockeyed

/ ˈkɒkˌaɪd /

adjective

1. afflicted with cross-eye, squint, or any other visible abnormality of the eyes
2. appearing to be physically or logically abnormal, absurd, etc; crooked; askew

   cockeyed ideas

3. drunk

Other Words From

• cock·eyed·ly [kok, -ahyd-lee, -ahy-id-], adverb
• cockeyedness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of cockeyed¹

1715–25; cock ² (v.) + eyed

Example Sentences

It’s the humans, though, that you’ll remember from the ground up: Adams’ camera-friendly energy and hard-won serenity; Keoghan’s cockeyed warmth, just this side of menacing; Rogowski’s strange, commanding woundedness.

From Los Angeles Times

Nichols freezes on Benny’s face with the shovel framed behind him like a cockeyed metal halo, a wryly funny image that captures a moment in time, much as Lyon did in his photos, and heralds the violence — its threats and giddy thrills — of the bikers’ lives.

From New York Times

It is somewhat of a riff on Don Quixote and captures the cockeyed whimsy that helps natives live in a city that is below sea level and perpetually threatened with destruction by the forces of nature.

From New York Times

Likewise, the cockeyed view of these Texans, who sometimes, but not always, let other people get away with things, is endearing.

From Salon

In 2022, for example, she starred in the sex-addled queer musical “Please Baby Please,” produced by her production company; the cockeyed interwar drama “Amsterdam”; the boisterous children’s film “Matilda: the Musical”; the bleak Scandinavian thriller “What Remains”; and the wrenching Texas-set indie, “To Leslie,” for which Riseborough received her first Academy Award nomination.

From New York Times