Meanings
kilter1
alternative kelter
- uncountableChiefly in out of kilter: (good) condition, form, or order; fettle.First known use 17th c.
not in kilter
2 more examples
[T]hey are either round-shouldered, knock-kneed, bow-legged, or parrot-toed; some are also badly cross-eyed. It seems as if they can see two different ways at the same time. Jack says they are lop-sided and out of kilter altogether.
1890, Charles Erskine, chapter V, in Twenty Years before the Mast: […], Boston, Mass.: Published by the author, →OCLC, page 72[H]e lived on tinned tomatoes, beef embalmed and sourdough bread, / On rusty beans and bacon furred with mould; / His stomach’s out of kilter and his system full of lead, / But it's over, and his poke is full of gold.
1909, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Man from Eldorado”, in Ballads of a Cheechako, Toronto, Ont.: William Briggs, →OCLC, part I, stanza 2, page 71
kilter2
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
kilter · noun
A variant of dialectal kelter (“good condition, order”), of unknown origin; possibly related to kilt (“to gather up (skirts) around the body”) (cognate with Danish kilte (“to tuck”)), or Scots kilt (“proper way of doing something, knack”) (probably from kilt (“a slope; a tilt”), possibly a variant of English tilt). In the 19th century, kelter was the more common form in the United Kingdom, while kilter was more common in the United States. Due to the influence of the latter, kilter is now the more prevalent form in all English varieties.
Full word history & related roots →kilter · noun
Probably a variant of dialectal kelter (“odds and ends; litter, rubbish”); further etymology unknown.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian порядък, изправност
- порядък (porjadăk)(good) condition, form, or order
- изправност (izpravnost)(good) condition, form, or order
Chinese Mandarin 良好狀態 /良好状态
- 良好狀態 /良好状态 (liánghǎozhuàngtài)(good) condition, form, or order
Czech forma
- forma(good) condition, form, or order
German Einklang, Ordnung
- Einklang(good) condition, form, or order
- Ordnung(good) condition, form, or order
- Zustand(good) condition, form, or order
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with kilter
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
kilter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kilter
“kilter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kilter. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kilter,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kilter.
Source: kilter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.