dodgy
part of speech
adjective (dodgy, dodgier, dodgiest) (UK, Australia, NZ, Ireland — informal)
meaning for a pupil
1) (informal) Dishonest or likely to be illegal; not to be trusted: «a dodgy deal». tree →
2) (informal) Not working well, unsafe or likely to break: «a dodgy knee», «dodgy brakes». tree →
3) (informal) Of poor quality or a bit bad: «a dodgy haircut», «a dodgy curry». tree →
4) (informal) Risky or uncertain: «The weather looks dodgy.» tree →
sense in the lessons
Very common in British, Australian, New Zealand and Irish everyday talk; less common in the US. In safety lessons, «a dodgy website» or «a dodgy message» means a scam to avoid. In stories it shows a character is suspicious or something is about to go wrong. Phrases: «a bit dodgy», «dodgy dealings», «dodgy knee», «dodgy wifi».
examples
- (UK) That website looks dodgy — don't type your password in. tree →
- Grandad has a dodgy knee, so he walks slowly. tree →
- The wifi is a bit dodgy today. tree →
- (Australia) He sold us a dodgy bike with no brakes. tree →
- I had a dodgy kebab and felt sick all night. tree →
- That's a dodgy plan; we'll get caught. tree →
- The weather looks dodgy, bring a coat. tree →
note
Informal; in formal writing use «suspicious», «unreliable» or «faulty». Comparative «dodgier», superlative «dodgiest». Related verb «dodge» (to move out of the way, or avoid something).
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «dodgy» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.