1
: turned or tilted to one side : askew
a cockeyed hat
He had brown curly hair, and a little cockeyed grin that made girls and women smile back.—
Tracy Kidder
Tracy KidderIn the narrow streets between are steep-roofed Renaissance houses with sculpted beams, cockeyed walls, and old wells.—R. W. Apple, Jr.
R. W. Apple, Jr.2
: somewhat confusing, foolish, absurd, or impractical
a cockeyed scheme/idea
Call me a peacenik, a cockeyed optimist, a technology fanboy—I've been called worse—but I see the opportunity in engaging, in negotiating, and in connecting these cultures …—Jeff Jarvis
Jeff JarvisA mondegreen is a cockeyed new word or phrase resulting from mishearing a proper word or phrase …—Rudolph Chelminski
Rudolph Chelminski
also
: in utter confusion or disorder : topsy-turvy
Bruce Catton called it "a startling novel about the horrible things that can happen to a man in the cockeyed postwar world of Europe … a world gone mad." —John Anthony West
John Anthony West 3
: having a cockeye
4
: drunk sense 1a
… gets wonderfully cockeyed in the neighborhood bar with her old friends.—Jane Cobb
Jane CobbSynonyms
Examples of cockeyed in a Sentence
The windows of the house look cockeyed.
Where did you get those cockeyed ideas?
She is full of cockeyed optimism.
Recent Examples on the Web
Santos was elected by cockeyed voters with his cheating, lying and posing.
—Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 21 Feb. 2024
What results is a kind of cockeyed mystery not at all about whodunnit but about why these two lovers felt compelled to resort to violence and lies.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 14 Apr. 2024
The story is also underwhelming, consisting of two unrelated subplots about mutant insects growing to gigantic size after being exposed to a plasma energy experiment, and a cockeyed plot to kill Godzilla by sucking him into a portable black hole.
—Katie Rife, EW.com, 28 Mar. 2024
Carmen’s back and neck are perpetually bent at a right angle, her left shoulder humping up cockeyed thanks to years of untreated scoliosis.
—Lisa Bubert, Longreads, 27 Feb. 2024
See all Example Sentences for cockeyed 
Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 21 Feb. 2024
What results is a kind of cockeyed mystery not at all about whodunnit but about why these two lovers felt compelled to resort to violence and lies.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 14 Apr. 2024
The story is also underwhelming, consisting of two unrelated subplots about mutant insects growing to gigantic size after being exposed to a plasma energy experiment, and a cockeyed plot to kill Godzilla by sucking him into a portable black hole.
—Katie Rife, EW.com, 28 Mar. 2024
Carmen’s back and neck are perpetually bent at a right angle, her left shoulder humping up cockeyed thanks to years of untreated scoliosis.
—Lisa Bubert, Longreads, 27 Feb. 2024
See all Example Sentences for cockeyed
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cockeyed.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near cockeyed
Cite this Entry
“Cockeyed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cockeyed. Accessed 7 Jul. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
cockeyed
adjective
cock·eyed
ˈkäk-ˈīd 
1
: having a squinting eye
2
: turned or tilted to one side
3
: somewhat confusing, foolish, absurd, or impractical
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share