Wonky means unsteady, crooked, or not working quite right. When you build a tower of blocks and it leans to one side, looking like it might topple over any second, that tower is wonky. A table with one short leg that wobbles when you set your glass on it is wonky. A bicycle wheel that got bent in a crash and now spins with a strange wiggle instead of turning smoothly is wonky.

The word captures that feeling when something is off but not completely broken. A wonky bookshelf might tilt slightly, making your books slide to one corner. Your drawing might look wonky if you tried to make a perfect circle but it came out lumpy and lopsided. Even plans can be wonky: if you designed an elaborate fort but forgot to account for the roof, someone might point out that your plan is wonky.

British English speakers also use wonky to mean detailed, complicated, or overly technical, especially when talking about policies and data. A politician might joke about getting wonky when diving into budget statistics that make most people's eyes glaze over.