junky

1 of 2

adjective

ˈjəŋ-kē 

junkier; junkiest

informal

: of inferior quality especially due to being worn out or cheaply made : having the character of junk

a junky old car

You have to wander all over the huge, overlit store's crowded aisles to find the stuff you want, and you have to maneuver your junky cart through all these other tired, hurried people with carts …

—David Foster Wallace

… it's engagingly junky entertainment, with a healthy sense of its own ludicrousness.

—Owen Gleiberman

It didn't seem right driving to the meetings, so I rode a junky old bike from my garage.

—David L'Heureux

junky

2 of 2

noun

less common spelling of junkie

1

a

disparaging + offensive : a person who is addicted to narcotics and especially to heroin

b

: a person who gets an unusual amount of pleasure from or has an unusual amount of interest in something

a television news junkie

Adrenaline junkies weren't the only ones who marveled as Austrian daredevil Baumgartner broke the world record for the highest and fastest skydive …

—Maura Judkis

2

: a junk dealer

Synonyms

Adjective

• chaffy
• empty
• no-good
• null
• vain
• valueless
• worthless

Examples of junky in a Sentence

Adjective

that broken watch you're wearing is junky

a junky coat that is sure to fall apart after one winter

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Otherwise most of your collection is fair game to display, sans a junky corporate logo or a plastic makeup. —Camille Freestone, Architectural Digest, 17 Oct. 2024

As a result, the market for rechargeable devices is suffused with junky options, and the differences in quality can be opaque. —Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 31 July 2024

Credit Reynolds for finding chatty sweetness in his masked assassin — and for giving new life to the film series by embracing the intrinsic humor of the franchise's junky failings. —Nick Romano, EW.com, 26 July 2024

High quality, independent polls mostly did not predict big Republican gains in the midterm elections, although some junky polls released by Republican-leaning firms did so. —David Lauter, Los Angeles Times, 13 July 2024

Just take the entire glob out of the container and press into electronics to pull out junky debris. —Anna Kasper, Rolling Stone, 25 June 2024

Paranormal Activity watch on max Pet Sematary Year: 1989 Runtime: 1h 43m Director: Mary Lambert Forget that junky 2019 remake (or the even junkier 2023 prequel) and stick with the first adaptation of the Stephen King novel from the 1980s about a cemetery that brings pets back to life. —Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 4 June 2024

The restaurant only has one Formica table in a junky storage area by the drink fountain. —Bud Kennedy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3 June 2024

The temperature sensor—embracing the worst of junky smartphone gimmicks One big change to the Pixel 8 Pro this year is the addition of a barely functional temperature sensor. —Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 11 Oct. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1880, in the meaning defined above