real clonker
- noun
- Slang
:
cacharro
- That rusty van is such a real clonker that it broke down twice last week.
Examples
-
My brother drives a real clonker that barely starts.
-
We ended up buying a real clonker because it was all we could afford at the time.
-
After a few years, his pride and joy became a real clonker that hardly ever started.
-
That old car is a real clonker!
-
After a few years, his pride and joy became a real clonker that hardly ever started.
-
That rusty van is such a real clonker that it broke down twice last week.
-
My brother drives a real clonker that barely starts.
Synonyms
43
7.0
An old car that does not work well and is in bad shape
4
6.1
An old car in bad condition that often breaks down
3
5.2
An old car that is worn out and often breaks down
1
9.9
A small, cheap car that often breaks down
1
9.2
A worn-out thing like a car or bike that is not worth much
An old noisy car that often breaks down
An old car that often breaks and does not work well
An old car that often breaks down because it is not well looked after
How Run-down
- Slang
- Archaic
43
7.0
- Informal
3
5.2
- Informal
52
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
real + clonker
While 'real' as an intensifier is transparent, the noun 'clonker' is not attested in the provided dictionary entry and appears to be rare slang (possibly a variant of 'clunker'). Because the core noun is unknown/idiomatic and not compositionally analyzable by a B1 learner, the overall meaning ('an old or unreliable car') cannot be reliably derived from the constituents.
Etymology
Real clonker comes from the sound words clonk and clunk, the loud bangs old car parts make when they hit each other. Imagine a car that always makes those bangs and often will not start; that noisy, broken image is why the phrase means 'an old, unreliable vehicle'.