awry

English

WOTD – 2 October 2008

Etymology

From Middle English awry, awrie, equivalent to a- +‎ wry.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /əˈɹaɪ/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /əˈɹɑɪ/

  • Audio (AU)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ
• (nonstandard) IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.ɹi/

Adverb

awry (comparative more awry, superlative most awry)

1. Obliquely, crookedly; askew.
2. Perversely, improperly.

Translations

obliquely, crookedly; askew

• Bulgarian: накриво (bg) (nakrivo), косо (bg) (koso)
• Finnish: vinossa (fi), vinoon, kierossa, kieroon
• French: de travers (fr), de guingois (fr), de traviole (fr)
• German: schief (de), fehlerhaft (de), falsch (de), verkehrt (de), krumm (de), verzogen (de), überkreuz (de), letz (de), daneben (de)
• Latin: oblīquus
• Polish: krzywo (pl), ukośnie (pl), na opak (pl)
• Portuguese: torto (pt), errado (pt), atravessado (pt)
• Russian: кри́во (ru) (krívo), ко́со (ru) (kóso), на́бок (ru) (nábok)
• Spanish: oblicuamente (es)
• Swedish: sned (sv), på sniskan (sv)

perversely, improperly

• Bulgarian: неправилно (bg) (nepravilno), криво (bg) (krivo)
• Finnish: sopimattomasti (fi)
• German: verquer (de)
• Polish: niewłaściwie (pl), opacznie (pl)
• Portuguese: inadequadamente (pt)
• Russian: непра́вильно (ru) (neprávilʹno), неве́рно (ru) (nevérno), превра́тно (ru) (prevrátno)
• Spanish: inadecuadamente
• Swedish: galet (sv), på tok (sv)
• Ukrainian: хи́бно (xýbno)

Adjective

awry (comparative more awry, superlative most awry)

1. Turned or twisted toward one side; crooked, distorted, out of place; wry.

   Synonym: (mostly UK) wonky

   The frame was awry.

2. (figurative) Wrong or distorted; perverse, amiss, off course

   There is something awry with this story.

   • 2021 April 29, Jamie Jackson, “Edinson Cavani and Bruno Fernandes help Manchester United hit Roma for six”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     It came inside 50 minutes and moments later Cavani should have had a 12th. Pogba and Shaw combined before the left-back’s cross teed up the striker but his radar was awry.

Usage notes

• As an adjective, awry is almost always used as a predicate.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:awry.

Derived terms

• go awry

Translations

turned or twisted toward one side

• Bulgarian: крив (bg) (kriv), изкривен (bg) (izkriven)
• Finnish: vino (fi), kiero (fi)
• French: de travers (fr), de guingois (fr), de traviole (fr)
• Galician: torto (gl)
• German: krumm (de), schief (de)
• Polish: krzywy (pl)
• Portuguese: torto (pt)
• Russian: криво́й (ru) (krivój), искривлённый (iskrivljónnyj), косо́й (ru) (kosój), искажённый (ru) (iskažónnyj)
• Spanish: torcido (es)
• Swedish: sned (sv)

wrong or distorted; perverse, amiss

• Bulgarian: погрешен (bg) (pogrešen), неправилен (bg) (nepravilen)
• Catalan: mal (ca)
• Finnish: sopimaton (fi)
• French: inapproprié (fr) m
• Italian: distorto (it)
• Polish: niewłaściwy (pl)
• Portuguese: distorcido (pt)
• Russian: непра́вильный (ru) (neprávilʹnyj), неве́рный (ru) (nevérnyj), искажённый (ru) (iskažónnyj), превра́тный (ru) (prevrátnyj)
• Spanish: torcido (es)

Anagrams

• Wray, wary, wray