different between risky vs unsteady

English

Etymology

risk +? -y

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???ski/
• Rhymes: -?ski

Adjective

risky (comparative riskier, superlative riskiest)

1. Dangerous, involving risks.

   Investing in this start-up company could be risky.

2. Misspelling of risqué.
   • 2012, Marlize Schmidt, That Awkward Moment..., Lulu Press, Inc (?ISBN)

     That awkward moment when someone doesn't reply to your risky text message.

   • 1889, Charles Leonard Moore, Banquet of Palacios: A Comedy, page 157:

     Have you no risky songs , no indecent ballads?

   • 2020, B. Barrett-Lennard, Mind Control Through the Mass Media: Transmission of the Politics of Inequality, B. Barrett-Lennard (?ISBN)

     Ronald Frankau (pronounced Franco) wrote a few risky songs, such as FANNY'S BEEN EVACUATED NOW with the line “and for half a pound of butter, well a lady's got to eat” ~ he got banned for it.

Synonyms

• hazardous, dangerous, perilous

Antonyms

• riskless, safe, secure

Related terms

• risk
• riskily
• riskiness
• risqué

Translations

Anagrams

• yirks

English

Etymology

From un- +? steady. Like steady, the word first appeared in English around 1530. The word is comparable to Old Frisian onstedich, Low German unstadig, etc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?st?di/
• Rhymes: -?di
• Hyphenation: un?steady

Adjective

unsteady (comparative unsteadier, superlative unsteadiest)

1. Not held firmly in position, physically unstable.

   • "Mid-Lent, and the Enemy grins," remarked Selwyn as he started for church with Nina and the children. Austin, knee-deep in a dozen Sunday supplements, refused to stir; poor little Eileen was now convalescent from grippe, but still unsteady on her legs; her maid had taken the grippe, and now moaned all day: […]"

2. Lacking regularity or uniformity.
3. Inconstant in purpose, or volatile in behavior.

Synonyms

• (not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over): precarious, rickety, shaky; see also Thesaurus:rickety
• (lacking regularity or uniformity): chaotic, irregular, unstable; see also Thesaurus:unsteady

Antonyms

• steady

Derived terms

• unsteadily

Translations

Verb

unsteady (third-person singular simple present unsteadies, present participle unsteadying, simple past and past participle unsteadied)

1. To render unsteady, removing balance.

Anagrams

• Dauntsey, unstayed