shaky
pronunciation
How to pronounce shaky in British English:
UK [ˈʃeɪki]
How to pronounce shaky in American English:
US [ˈʃeki]
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- Adjective:
- inclined to shake as from weakness or defect
- vibrating slightly and irregularly; as e.g. with fear or cold or like the leaves of an aspen in a breeze
- not secure; beset with difficulties
Word Origin
- shaky (adj.)
- 1840, of handwriting; 1841 of persons, horses, and credit; 1850 of structures; from shake (v.) + -y (2). General sense of "uncertain, of questionable integrity" is from 1834. Earliest of trees or logs, "split, having fissures" (1808). Related: Shakily; shakiness.
Example
- 1. For many , self-esteem is shaky at best .
- 2. The shaky finances of some municipalities could put what 's left of the industry to another huge test .
- 3. My voice was shaky , and I gritted my teeth .
- 4. The financial crisis high - lighted only that the high welfare standards of the north were also built on shaky fundamentals too .
- 5. Traders sliced mortgages into so many little pieces that they forgot what they were really trading : contracts based on increasingly shaky loans .