kilter

[ kil-ter ]

noun

1. good condition; order:

   The engine was out of kilter.

2. Poker. skeet ².

kilter

/ ˈkɪltə /

noun

1. working order or alignment (esp in the phrases off kilter, out of kilter )

Word History and Origins

Origin of kilter¹

First recorded in 1630–40; variant of dial. kelter < ?

Word History and Origins

Origin of kilter¹

C17: origin unknown

Idioms and Phrases

see out of kilter .

Example Sentences

There are off-kilter insights into male anger, entitlement and the often-arbitrary rules that govern our interactions—along with several hilariously weird concepts that become running jokes within the show’s cultish fan base.

From Time

A slightly off-kilter posture can cause a diver’s body to violently shake in midair, and a sudden gust of wind or pocket of air can cause a painful and drastic deceleration.

From Outside Online

In general, as the proton-neutron balance gets more and more off-kilter, a nucleus gets further from stability, and its properties tend to get stranger.

From Science News

Get it wrong and everything from targeting to measurement can be put out of kilter.

From Digiday

The prolonged shutdown, by throwing us off-kilter, may help us reimagine our futures, says psychologist Richard Tedeschi, professor emeritus at University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

From Time

Does it give you any anxiety to be so convincing at playing a character so off-kilter?

From The Daily Beast

After all, just about any off-kilter statement can be taken seriously if it comes from a member of Congress.

From The Daily Beast

“Everybody was probably a little out of kilter,” Royko says.

From The Daily Beast

Still shackled, with his trousers in shreds and radiating off-kilter aggression, Phoenix immediately begins wilding out.

From The Daily Beast

One nice, anti-surreal detail from Sala: Thanks to skewed gears in its innards, his off-kilter clock tells perfect time.

From The Daily Beast

He can't talk much, though; 'tain't good fur him; his lungs is out er kilter.

From Project Gutenberg

The truth is, I have never got over the last influenza yet, and am miserably out of heart and out of kilter.

From Project Gutenberg

And telepathy or perception goes out of kilter first because the psi is a very delicate factor.

From Project Gutenberg

That means, the basic atoms of matter had been thrown out of kilter, sorta deranged.

From Project Gutenberg

"Your thought-works are out of kilter, Sis," declared Chet, laughing again.

From Project Gutenberg