shaky

comparative shakier · superlative shakiest

1. Shaking or trembling.

   a shaky hand

   1 more example

   a shaky spot in a marsh

2. Nervous, anxious.

   He’s a nice guy but when he talks to me, he acts shaky.

   2 more examples

   For the college clinician, restless nights after letting a shaky student walk out of the office are an occupational hazard. Are the student's safety assurances credible? Will he or she make it safely through the weekend?

   2006, Paul A. Grayson, Philip W. Meilman, College Mental Health Practice, page 11

   Villa had plenty of opportunities to make the game safe after a shaky start and despite not reaching any great heights, they were resolute enough to take control of the game in the second half.

   2011 April 10, Alistair Magowan, “Aston Villa 1 - 0 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport

3. Full of shakes or cracks; cracked.

   shaky timber

   1 more example

   For quotations using this term, see Citations:shaky.

4. Easily shaken; tottering; unsound.

   a shaky constitution

   2 more examples

   shaky business credit

   Brzozowski, arguing from a shaky factual basis, challenged both these axioms and proposed an interpretation of his own which is remarkably close to the philosophic outlook of Marx's early writings that have since come to light.

   1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 237

   Synonyms: precarious, rickety, unsteady, tottering, unsafe, unstable, wobbly

5. Wavering; undecided.