different between awry vs agley

English

Etymology

From Middle English awry, awrie, equivalent to a- +? wry.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /???a?/
• Rhymes: -a?
• (nonstandard) IPA^(key): /??.?i/

Adverb

awry (comparative more awry, superlative most awry)

1. Obliquely, crookedly; askew.
2. Perversely, improperly.

Translations

Adjective

awry (comparative more awry, superlative most awry)

1. Turned or twisted toward one side; crooked, distorted, out of place; wry.

   Synonym: (mostly UK) wonky

2. (figuratively) Wrong or distorted; perverse, amiss.

Usage notes

• As an adjective, awry is almost always used as a predicately.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:awry.

Derived terms

• go awry

Translations

Anagrams

• Wray, wary, wray

English

Alternative forms

• aglee
• gley

Etymology

From Scots agley.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???le?/, /???li?/
• Rhymes: -e?, -i?

Adverb

agley (comparative more agley, superlative most agley)

1. (chiefly Scotland) Wrong, awry, askew, amiss, or distortedly.
   • 1932, Rosewell Page, The Iliads of the South: an epic of the War Between the States, Garrett and Massie, p. 165:

     X tells of cavalry; of Sheridan, Hampton and Fitz Lee;

     Of Early’s Valley march, that Sheridan long held agley!

   • 2002, Diana Gabaldon, The Fiery Cross, p. 29:

     We meant to sail from Charleston, but things went agley there, and so we’re bound for Portsmouth now, as fast as we can make speed.

Usage notes

The word was popularised by Robert Burns in his 1785 Scots poems “To a Mouse”, in the much-quoted line “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley”. This line is often quoted, and the word agley is occasionally used in modern English, primarily in variants of this line, such as “our plans have gone agley” or “things went agley”.

Adjective

agley (comparative more agley, superlative most agley)

1. (Scotland) Wrong; askew.
   • 1983, Alasdair Gray, ‘The Great Bear Cult’, Canongate 2012 (Every Short Story 1951-2012), p. 57:

     But though the bear in the picture was a disguised man he appeared so naturally calm, so benignly strong, that beside him Pete […] looked comparatively shifty and agley.

Anagrams

• Galey, Gayle, gayle

Scots

Etymology

From a- +? gley.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???li?/, /???l?i/

Adverb

agley (comparative mair agley, superlative maist agley)

1. asquint; astray, off the straight
   • 1785, Robert Burns, “To a Mouse”:

     The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley