dodgy

adjective

ˈdä-jē 

1

chiefly British : evasive, tricky

2

chiefly British

a

: not sound, good, or reliable

b

: questionable, suspicious

3

chiefly British : requiring skill or care in handling or coping with

dodginess

ˈdä-jē-nəs 

noun

Synonyms

• catchy
• delicate
• difficult
• hairy
• knotty
• nasty
• prickly
• problematic
• problematical
• sensitive
• spiny
• sticky
• thorny
• ticklish
• touchy
• tough
• tricksy
• tricky

Examples of dodgy in a Sentence

The car's got a dodgy engine.

They got into a dodgy situation.

Recent Examples on the Web

View 2 Images Be it from tap water on a vacation, some dodgy chicken, or something the kids have brought home from school, we've almost all been flattened by an awful stomach bug at some point in our lives. —New Atlas, 5 Feb. 2025

If your prompt is a reasonable one, and there is content within the AI that could be responsive, the odds are that a fallback will be emitted for dodgy reasons. —Lance Eliot, Forbes, 12 Jan. 2025

Labyrinth hulu Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile Year: 2022 Runtime: 1h 46m Directors: Josh Gordon, Will Speck The crocodile CGI may be a bit dodgy, but this family film is cute enough to get the job done, and Javier Bardem is having a hell of a good time. —Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 7 Jan. 2025

What’s causing the slow-down A tough national economy, unfriendly state regulations and dodgy business practices created the decline in Arizona’s rooftop solar growth, according to industry professionals. —Austin Corona, The Arizona Republic, 3 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1861, in the meaning defined at sense 1