out of kilter
2
7.7
- idiom
:
desajustado
- Many employees felt that the company's policies were out of kilter with their needs and expectations.
- get out of kilter
- throw everything out of kilter
- seems out of kilter
And obviously if it's too low then you will be out of kilter.
- And obviously if it's too low then you will be out of kilter.
- And once you see that, you can begin to see what happens when things get out of balance out of kilter.
- And like most of these processes in pathology, it's only when it, it goes wrong or the fine tuning of it gets out of kilter, do we end up with problems.
Examples
-
The financial services industry got way out of kilter with the rest of the economy.
-
Today, nursing home residents are often portrayed as villains—who sequester assets, consume technology, and kick state budgets out of kilter.
Academic text (1995) -
When he was with her, he felt as if his world was out of kilter.
Fiction book (1991) -
Everything felt out of kilter.
Fiction book (2001) -
I just figured out why it felt so out of kilter.
Blog text (20) -
Our political system is so far out of kilter, I don't recognize it anymore.
Blog text (13) -
She was all apologies; heavy traffic and road construction had thrown her schedule out of kilter.
Fiction book (1992) -
Well, for instance, when my mother sent us some antiques that had belonged to my grandmother, it threw everything out of kilter.
Fiction book (1992) -
Because we're not anywhere close to a morally level playing field, the assumptions are too out of kilter for the 'both' discussion to make any sort of sense.
Blog text (7) -
"And you’ve probably got the stove all out of kilter," she said by way of apology.
Fiction book (1994)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Not working correctly
30
7.5
Not working properly or behaving in the usual way
28
2.1
Not working so you cannot use it, like a machine or toilet
7
7.5
Not straight or level and a little strange
Antonyms
How Functional
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally built from the prepositional pattern 'out of' (indicating absence or removal from a state) plus 'kilter' (a noun meaning proper order or functioning), so its meaning 'not in proper condition' follows directly from the constituents. This construction is a regular, cross-linguistically common way to negate a state, making the expression predictable to a learner who already knows the constituent words.
Etymology
Out of kilter may come from a word kilter that meant a correct balance or the right position. If something was out of that balance it was not lined up, so today out of kilter means 'not working correctly' or 'not in harmony'.