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German

Meanings

  1. skew, oblique, askew, leaning, slanting, aslant, inclined (neither parallel nor perpendicular)

  2. slopy, sloping (characterised by a slope or slopes)

  3. crooked, awry (set at an angle; not vertical or square)

  4. lopsided (not even or balanced; not the same on one side as on the other)

  5. of facial expressionswry (turned away, contorted)

  6. of an imagedistorted (misshapen; brought out of shape)

7 more meanings

  1. worn (damaged and shabby as a result of much use)

  2. figurativeinappropriate (not suitable for the situation, time, or place)

  3. oblique not straight

    Dieses Bild hängt ja ganz schief!

Adverb

  1. crookedly, at an angle

  2. lopsidedly

  3. figurativeaskance (sideways; obliquely)

  4. badly, wrong (in a way that isn't right)

Examples

GermanEnglish
Alles, was schiefgehen konnte, ging auch schief.Everything that could go wrong did.
Warum hängt das Bild schief?Why is the picture hanging askew?
8 more examples
Das Bild hängt schief.The picture is askew.
Was ist denn da schief gelaufen?What went wrong there?
Unser Experiment letzte Woche ging schief.Our experiment went wrong last week.
Irgendwas läuft hier gehörig schief.Something is going very wrong here.
Die Türe ging aus den Angeln und hing schief.The door came off its hinges and hung askew.
Maria flüsterte Tom irgendwas ins Ohr, und jetzt sieht er mich schief an.Mary whispered something in Tom's ear, and now he's looking at me askance.
Das Tor hing schief in den Angeln.The gate was hanging askew on its hinges.
Unser Plan lief von Anfang an schief.Our plan went wrong from the beginning.

Related words

Synonym