cranky

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
15
Words With Friends
16
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/ˈkɹæŋki/
See all 3 pronunciations
/ˈkɹæŋki/ · /ˈkɹeɪ̯ŋki/ · /ˈkɹɛ̃ŋki/

Definition of cranky

6 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

adj

  1. (usually)Not in good working condition; defective, faulty.
    “We had seven canoes, all of them dugouts. One was small, one was cranky, and two were old, waterlogged, and leaky. The other three were good.”
    “Margaret Cerullo gave a rousing speech, despite the pesky interruptions of a cranky sound system.”
See all 6 definitions

adj

  1. (usually)Not in good working condition; defective, faulty.
    “We had seven canoes, all of them dugouts. One was small, one was cranky, and two were old, waterlogged, and leaky. The other three were good.”
    “Margaret Cerullo gave a rousing speech, despite the pesky interruptions of a cranky sound system.”
  2. Grouchy, grumpy, irritable; easily upset.
    “He got home from a long day at work tired and cranky.”
  3. Not in perfect mental working order; eccentric, peculiar.
    “Uncle Esau is as cranky as hell, and a peculiar old duck, but I think he'll like a fine upstanding young man as big as you be.”
  4. Synonym of crank (“of a ship: liable to capsize because of poorly stowed cargo or insufficient ballast”).
    “a cranky vessel”
  5. (archaic)Full of spirit; spirited.
  6. (obsolete)Weak, unwell.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From crank + -y. Compare Middle Low German krankich (“sickly, unwell”).

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