out of joint

prepositional phrase

Dislocated.

“I fell over and put my shoulder out of joint.”

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Meanings

prepositional phrase
  1. anatomyDislocated.

    I fell over and put my shoulder out of joint.

    1 more example

    Fla[via]. Come, Sir Pergamus, till your horse come, you and I'll go play at shuttle-cock. / Per[gamus]. A match i'faith. I love that sport a' life. Yet my mother charged me not to use it for fear of putting my arm out of joint.

    c. 1604–1626, doubtfully attributed to Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Faithful Friends”, in Henry [William] Weber, editor, The Works of Beaumont and Fletcher, in Fourteen Volumes: […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] F[rancis] C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington; […], published 1812, →OCLC, Act II, scene ii, page 50
  2. broadlyChaotic, disordered, out of control.

    If the time is out of joint, have I any calling or strength to set it right?

    1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 62, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC
    2 more examples

    The time is out of ioynt, O curſed ſpite, / That euer I was borne to ſet it right, […]

    c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and Iohn Trundell, published 1603, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]

    Her stepmother had whimsical moods; and if Cynthia displeased her, she would oppress Molly with small kindnesses and pseudo-affection. Or else everything was wrong, the world was out of joint, and Molly had failed in her mission to set it right, and was to be blamed accordingly.

    1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “A Passive Coquette”, in Wives and Daughters. An Every-day Story. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1866, →OCLC, page 14
  3. Not in harmony, in step or in line (with something).

    While the Kremlin at Moscow exhales a paradoxical sympathy with this renewal of old tradition, Leningrad seems out of joint with Bolshevism and wears a sad air, as though mourning for an interlude which is past.

    1933, Robert Byron, First Russia, Then Tibet, London: Macmillan, Part I, Chapter 5, p. 71

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
wanton

Translations

German ausgerenkt, ausgekugelt
  • ausgerenktanat. dislocated
  • ausgekugeltanat. dislocated
  • aus den Fugendisordered, out of control
  • aus dem Häuschendisordered, out of control
  • nicht miteinander im / in Einklang stehen / seinnot in harmony with sth.
  • aus der Reihe tanzennot in harmony with sth.
  • getrennte Wege gehennot in harmony with sth.
Cite this entry
APA

out of joint. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out%20of%20joint

MLA

“out of joint.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out%20of%20joint. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “out of joint,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out%20of%20joint.

Source: out of joint on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.