out of whack
30
7.5
- idiom
- Informal
- My sleep schedule has been all out of whack lately, making me feel tired during the day.
- get out of whack
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Watch on YouTubeAnd, you know, when blood sugar is out of whack, you're more tired easily.
- And, you know, when blood sugar is out of whack, you're more tired easily.
- And, and if you get that out of whack, we get this thing we call jet lag.
- And your mere metabolism gets all of all out of whack when you're retreating.
- And this misalignment forces your shoulders or your neck out of whack.
- And so he is his own personal risk reward curve is out of whack with the rest of humanity.
- Yet every woman knows around her menstrual cycle her hormones are out of whack and it deeply impacts her psychology.
- Certainty, opportunity to observe, attention paid, and the legal tests are out of whack with what the scientific evidence shows.
- Like on the first break, Steve, our bass player, his bass was so out of whack that he it sounds like he moves up a half step.
- First question here for you, what are the biggest things in terms of diet that are really throwing our hormones out of whack today?
- I hate that word, but like you, things are out of whack, whatever that means.
Examples
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The stock market didn't get too out of whack on the news, and today it's flat.
Blog text (14) -
I was worried my thyroid was out of whack or that I had anemia again.
Blog text (1) -
Listen, this has thrown my whole day out of whack now.
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But then I saw how completely out of whack they were on their pricing.
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God, my cycle's all out of whack.
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Your preferences could be out of whack with the ideal hierarchy or scale of values.
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But just think about how out of whack the Chiefs' receiver position is.
Blog text (21) -
When generators go out of whack, bad things happen, you know?
Fiction book (1999) -
Clocks are all out of whack, and the fridge is defrosted.
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Your serotonin levels may be, you know, out of whack because of what you've been through.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Not working correctly
28
2.1
Not working so you cannot use it, like a machine or toilet
2
7.2
Not working because it is broken
2
7.7
Not working correctly and not in balance
1
7.5
Not working as it should and often out of control
1
7.2
Put into confusion or disorder so it no longer works as planned
Uneven so parts do not fit or move smoothly
Antonyms
How Functional
Surface Forms
Morphology
out + of + whack
The meaning 'not working properly' is not transparently built from 'out' + 'of' + 'whack' because the literal sense of 'whack' (a hit/blow) does not relate to malfunction or incorrect adjustment. Although 'out of' can mark absence, the phrase relies on idiomatic use of 'whack' to mean 'proper order' or 'correctness', so a B1 learner who only knows the literal constituent meanings would not reliably infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Out of whack may come from the idea of something taking a big whack, a hard hit, and moving out of place. So when a machine, plan, or schedule is out of whack, it is 'not working properly' or not in the right order.