off-kilter

adjective

Askew.

Meanings

adjectiveoff-kilter (comparative more off-kilter, superlative most off-kilter)

comparative more off-kilter · superlative most off-kilter · alternative off kilter

  1. idiomaticAskew.

    On second thought, she reconsidered, looking up into Murphy's eyes; maybe he was a little off-kilter. Just off-kilter enough to want her to live up to that ridiculous term he'd given her—or else.

    2014, Marie Ferrarella, Her Forever Cowboy, Harlequin, →ISBN, page 61
    2 more examples

    Up to this point, True Romance has the makings of a gritty, off-kilter, romance movie meets road movie. This strikingly changes, not in direction (because the film is a gritty, off-kilter, romance movie meets road movie) but in symbolism, semiotics […]

    2015, Adilifu Nama, Race on the QT: Blackness and the Films of Quentin Tarantino, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 26

    “Do forgive me, Mrs. Patch.” He was generally much better at questioning people, at reading what would upset them or make them reveal their secrets. But this situation had thrown him entirely off-kilter.

    2015, Sabrina Jeffries, If the Viscount Falls, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 74

Synonyms & antonyms

Cite this entry
APA

off-kilter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/off-kilter

MLA

“off-kilter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/off-kilter. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “off-kilter,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/off-kilter.

Source: off-kilter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.