rinky-dink
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɹɪŋ.kɪ.dɪŋk/
ipa: /ˈɹɪŋkiˌdɪŋk/
Forms: form: rinky-dinky
Etymology: Origin unknown; possibly a variant of rickety (“of an object: not strong or sturdy; of a person: feeble in the joints, tottering”), reduplicated with a change of the initial consonant. The noun is attested earlier than the adjective.
Senses: examples: text: That rinky-dink shelf is likely to collapse if you fill it with books.
text: It was a rinky-dink way to run a war.
ref: 2007, Walter J. Boyne, The Yom Kippur War: And the Airlift Strike That Saved Israel, →ISBN:
text: We'd put on little rinky-dink shows.
ref: 2012, Thomas Guzman-Sanchez, Underground Dance Masters: Final History of a Forgotten Era, →ISBN:
text: The more obscure and rinky-dink the country, the more anally retentive the officialdom, and Kiribati was about as obscure and rinky-dink as it got.
ref: 2014, Jason Lewis, The Seed Buried Deep, →ISBN:
text: It's a rinky-dink operation that owns a rinky-dink mine in Papua New Guinea.
ref: 2017, Dennis Lehane, Since We Fell, →ISBN:
synonyms: word: ass
word: bad
word: base
word: below par
word: broken
word: bum
word: cheap
word: chintzy
word: crappo
word: crappy
word: craptastic
word: crapperific
word: craptabulous
word: craptacular
word: crummy
word: flimsy
word: inferior
word: lousy
word: low
word: low-grade
word: pitiful
word: poor
word: rinky-dink
word: rubbish
word: sad
word: schlocky
word: shoddy
word: slight
word: slim
word: sorry
word: subpar
word: shitty
word: substandard
word: tin-pot
word: unacceptable
word: unfit
word: unsatisfactory
word: unsound
word: unsuitable
word: woeful
word: wretched
glosses: Of poor quality; amateurish, shoddy, small-time.
synonyms: word: basic
word: cheugy
word: cringe
word: cringey
word: cringeworthy
word: dated
word: démodé
word: fossilized
word: inelegant
word: last year
word: normie
word: old
word: old-fashioned
word: old-hat
word: oldfangled
word: ossified
word: out
word: out of date
word: out of fashion
word: out of touch
word: outdated
word: outmoded
word: passé
word: rinky-dink
word: tacky
word: unchic
word: uncool
word: unfashionable
word: unhip
word: unpopular
word: unstylish
word: untrendy
word: clapped out
word: damaged
word: defective
word: deteriorated
word: dilapidated
word: effete
word: faulty
word: munted
word: outworn
word: passé
word: raddled
word: ragged
word: ravaged
word: rinky-dink
word: shabby
word: unimproved
word: wasted
word: weakened
word: wrecked
word: wrecksome
word: worn
word: worn-out
word: worsened
antonyms: word: unfashionable
glosses: Old-fashioned, tired; also, shabby, worn-out.
examples: text: When NBC licensed his reruns to the Arts & Entertainment cable network without consulting him, he was incensed. "It was a rinky-dink deal," says a source.
ref: 1992, Newsweek - Volume 120, page 55:
text: I asked Father Butterballino, “Why do it at all, if you're going to do it in this rinky-dink, sneaky way?” (phrased more diplomatically, of course).
ref: 2012, Scott Pomfret, Since My Last Confession: A Gay Catholic Memoir, →ISBN, page 246:
text: He'd paid a fine on that rinky-dink deal at the courthouse in Forsyth the very next day.
ref: 2012, Michael W. Cuneo, Almost Midnight: An American Story of Murder and Redemption, →ISBN:
antonyms: word: dishonest
word: hypocritical
word: insincere
word: shady
glosses: Crooked, dishonest, underhanded.
examples: text: As I child, I learned to play on that old pump organ and so had my father. This piano was very special. It had an extra floor pedal which gave the piano a rinky-dink sound like no other.
ref: 2007, Johnny Stark, “Another New Beginning”, in From Poverty to Silvered Wings of Flight, Bloomington, Ind.: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 55:
text: The loud rinky-dink music and the wafting blue cigar smoke made the scene a dime novel cover.
ref: 2013, Conn Hamlett, John Lee Johnson and the Gunslingers, →ISBN, page 13:
text: But Humphrey Bogart's Philip Marlowe has no sax sound tagging along behind him, and when love interest Lauren Bacall makes her entrance at a swanky nightspot, a rinky-dink piano accompanies her sway; there's not a sax in sight (or sound).
ref: 2017, Kenneth LaFave, Experiencing Film Music: A Listener's Companion, →ISBN, page 32:
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: Alternative form of rinky-tink (“tinkling and tinny”).
Related terms: coinkydink
dinky