😄 Full of jokes ⚠️ Unreliable

joky

8.2

Not working properly and often unreliable

adjective

Informal

: inestable

The internet connection has been joky all day, making it hard to finish my work.

Examples

After the update, my phone's touchscreen became joky and sometimes wouldn't respond.
We had to replace the joky printer because it kept jamming and skipping pages.
His car is always joky and never starts on time.
That old computer is quite joky and crashes frequently.
My laptop has been joky lately, often freezing while I am trying to type.
The old coffee maker is really joky and sometimes brews only half a pot.
Because of the joky software, the game crashes every time I try to start it.

Synonyms

flaky

vsjoky

Informal

6 7.0

Tending to fail or change without warning

describes general unreliable or unpredictable functioning rather than rare faults

janky

vsjoky

Slang

4 8.8

Poor quality and not reliable

focuses on unpredictable or erratic behavior rather than general low quality

wonky

vsjoky

Informal

3 7.7

Not working correctly, often for devices, apps, or websites

is more general, covering unpredictable behavior in people or things

flicky

vsjoky

9.2

Not reliable and often changing suddenly

is broader, applying to things that simply do not work correctly or reliably

Antonyms

reliable

358 2.7

Able to be trusted to do what is expected

functional

81 3.2

Working correctly so it can be used

How Reliable

reliable

358 2.7

unreliable

10 4.3

joky

Informal

8.2

defective

57 3.9

broken

31 1.0

Surface Forms

joky positive

Morphology

joky = joke (semi-transparent) = joke + y

The adjectival formation is regular, but the sense 'unreliable/not working properly' is a non-literal, informal extension that is not directly inferable from 'joke'.

Etymology

Joky can also mean 'not working properly' or unreliable, which you can remember as a kind of trick: think of something 'playing a joke' on you by acting odd or unpredictable.