a·wry

(ə-rī′)

adv.

1. Away from the correct course; amiss: The last minute changes caused our plans to go awry.

2. In a position that is turned or twisted toward one side; askew.

[Middle English : a-, on; see a-¹ + wrien, to turn, be crooked; see wry.]

a·wry′ adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

awry

(əˈraɪ)

adv, adj (postpositive)

1. with a slant or twist to one side; askew

2. away from the appropriate or right course; amiss

[C14 on wry; see a-², wry]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

a•wry

(əˈraɪ)

adv., adj.

1. with a turn or twist to one side; askew.

2. away from the expected or proper direction; amiss; wrong: Our plans went awry.

[1325–75; Middle English on wry. See a-¹, wry]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.	1.	awry - turned or twisted toward one side; "a...youth with a gorgeous red necktie all awry"- G.K.Chesterton; "his wig was, as the British say, skew-whiff" askew, cockeyed, skew-whiff, wonky, lopsided crooked - having or marked by bends or angles; not straight or aligned; "crooked country roads"; "crooked teeth"
	2.	awry - not functioning properly; "something is amiss"; "has gone completely haywire"; "something is wrong with the engine" amiss, haywire, wrong malfunctioning, nonfunctional - not performing or able to perform its regular function; "a malfunctioning valve"
Adv.	1.	awry - away from the correct or expected course; "something has gone awry in our plans"; "something went badly amiss in the preparations" amiss
	2.	awry - turned or twisted to one side; "rugs lying askew"; "with his necktie twisted awry" askew, skew-whiff

awry

adverb & adjective

1. wrong, amiss a plan that had gone awry

2. askew, to one side, off course, out of line, obliquely, unevenly, off-centre, cockeyed (informal), out of true, crookedly, skew-whiff (informal) He was concerned that his hair might go awry.

adjective

1. askew, twisted, crooked, to one side, uneven, off course, out of line, asymmetrical, off-centre, cockeyed (informal), misaligned, out of true, skew-whiff (informal) His dark hair was all awry.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

awry

adverb

Not in the right way or on the proper course:

afield, amiss, astray, wrong.

adjective

Not in accordance with what is usual or expected:

amiss, astray, sour, wrong.

Translations

kierokieroonkierossasopimatonsopimattomasti

de guingoisde travers

di traverso per traverso

krzywo krzywyniewłaściwieniewłaściwy opacznie

искоса косо криво

awry

[əˈraɪ] ADV to be awry → estar de través, estar al sesgo, estar mal puesto
to go awry → salir mal, fracasar
with his hat on awry → con el sombrero torcido or ladeado

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

awry

[əˈraɪ]

adj (= crooked) → de travers (= dishevelled) → désordonné
His clothes were awry → Sa mise était désordonnée.

adv
to go awry [plan] → mal tourner

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

awry

adj pred (= askew) → schief

adv the picture/hat is awry → das Bild hängt/der Hut sitzt schief; to go awry (plans etc) → schiefgehen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

awry

[əˈraɪ]

1. adv → di traverso

2. adj → storto/a
to go awry → andare a monte

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

They are all standing awry, so much awry that the chalets and cottages of the peasants seem to be tumbling down.

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Not of alcoholics nor for alcoholics do I write, but for our youths, for those who possess no more than the adventure-stings and the genial predispositions, the social man-impulses, which are twisted all awry by our barbarian civilisation which feeds them poison on all the corners.

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His hat was gone and his clothes were awry. He resembled a man who has come from bed to go to a fire.

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Is the spike so low a thing as the rusty spike on the top of a post of an old bedstead that has tumbled all awry? Some vague period of drowsy laughter must be devoted to the consideration of this possibility.

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At this very moment everything is standing awry to my eyes, for a man needs only to work late overnight in his writing of something or other for, in the morning, his eyes to be red, and the tears to be gushing from them in a way that makes him ashamed to be seen before strangers.

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Marilla knew Anne too well to fear this; but she felt that something in the universal scheme of things had gone sadly awry.

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The raggedest nightcap, awry on the wretchedest head, had this crooked significance in it: "I know how hard it has grown for me, the wearer of this, to support life in myself; but do you know how easy it has grown for me, the wearer of this, to destroy life in you?" Every lean bare arm, that bad been without work before, had this work always ready for it now, that it could strike.

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Nathless now and again some luckless fellow would shoot awry and would be sent winding from a long arm blow from the tall lieutenant while the glade roared with laughter.

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Solid to the touch--for I put out my hand and felt the rail of it--and with brown spots and smears upon the ivory, and bits of grass and moss upon the lower parts, and one rail bent awry.

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Early one evening, struggling with a sonnet that twisted all awry the beauty and thought that trailed in glow and vapor through his brain, Martin was called to the telephone.

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But the indefinable weight the dead rabbits had left on her mind caused her to feel more than usual pity for the career of this weak young man, particularly when she looked at the picture where he leaned against a tree with a flaccid appearance, his knee-breeches unbuttoned and his wig awry, while the swine apparently of some foreign breed, seemed to insult him by their good spirits over their feast of husks.

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One was a map of the Pyncheon territory at the eastward, not engraved, but the handiwork of some skilful old draughtsman, and grotesquely illuminated with pictures of Indians and wild beasts, among which was seen a lion; the natural history of the region being as little known as its geography, which was put down most fantastically awry. The other adornment was the portrait of old Colonel Pyncheon, at two thirds length, representing the stern features of a Puritanic-looking personage, in a skull-cap, with a laced band and a grizzly beard; holding a Bible with one hand, and in the other uplifting an iron sword-hilt.

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