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askew

used in a sentence
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Definition not straight (not in proper alignment)

or:

(when used figuratively) not right, or not as planned
  • She came out of the water with her glasses askew but still on her head.
askew = not straight (not in proper alignment)
  • Her priorities are askew.
  • askew = not right
  • The earthquake left our pictures hanging askew.
  • askew = crooked
  • I always see him without his jacket and with his tie yanked askew.
  • askew = twisted to the side (not in proper alignment)
  • Everything looked amateurish. Even the signs were hung askew.
  • askew = crooked (not in proper alignment)
  • But Marilla could not rid herself of the notion that something in her scheme of punishment was going askew.
    Lucy Maud Montgomery  --  Anne Of Green Gables
  • askew = not right, or not as planned
  • [T]he twins forced the sweater over his head, knocking his glasses askew.
    J.K. Rowling  --  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
  • askew = [so they were] not on straight
  • Dodge flung out his fists and knocked Jack to the floor, left him splayed there with his wig askew, looking not at all like a person of high rank.
    Frank Beddor  --  The Looking Glass Wars
  • askew = not on straight
  • Suddenly the three of them were there, Mrs Whatsit with her pink stole askew; Mrs Who with her spectacles gleaming; and Mrs Which still little more than a shimmer.
    Madeleine L'Engle  --  A Wrinkle in Time
  • askew = not straight (not in proper alignment)
  • With frowsy hair, skirts askew and red hands, she talked loud while washing the floor with great swishes of water.
    Guy de Maupassant  --  The Diamond Necklace
  • askew = not straight
  • Harry was just helping himself to a baked potato when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face.
    J.K. Rowling  --  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
  • askew = not on straight
  • It was as she came to this determination that Jack of Diamonds, running along a heart-shaped passage toward the gardens, suddenly found himself lifted off his feet, his wig again knocked askew.
    Frank Beddor  --  The Looking Glass Wars
  • askew = not on straight
  • The framed print of Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa looked slightly askew.
    Abraham Verghese  --  Cutting for Stone
  • Mom's cheery yellow sweater lies askew along the stitches on her throat and shoulder.
    Susan Ee  --  Angelfall
  • In the evening the murky shape of another coastal city, the cluster of tall buildings vaguely askew.
    Cormac McCarthy  --  The Road
  • I'm not going askew from the principles on which the United States was built; I'm right there with our founding fathers.
    Phil Robertson  --  Happy, Happy, Happy: My Life and Legacy as the Duck Commander
  • A canopy, which had been carried on four poles over somebody or something, was sinking with the poles askew, like a liner foundering in Atlantic.
    T. H. White  --  The Once and Future King
  • The boss slashed impotently at newspapers, printed blurry slips and pasted items askew.
    Betty Smith  --  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
  • 'Oho!' said Ralph, eyeing him askew.
    Charles Dickens  --  Nicholas Nickleby
  • On her head a circlet of hammered bronze sat askew, graven with runes and ringed with small black swords.
    George R.R. Martin  --  A Feast For Crows

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