Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use dodgy in a sentence

26 example sentences · adjective

Dodgy means evasive and shifty. Example: “Asked why, a spokesman gave a dodgy answer about legal ramifications.”

Examples of dodgy by meaning

adjectiveEvasive and shifty.

  • Asked why, a spokesman gave a dodgy answer about legal ramifications.

adjectiveUnsound and unreliable.

  • Never listen to dodgy advice.
  • The dodgy old machine kept breaking down.

adjectiveDishonest.

  • The more money the better, because there is always that dodgy politician or corrupt official to bribe.
  • I am sure you wouldn't want to be seen buying dodgy gear, would you? (stolen goods).
  • No doubt you’re tired of reading about his colourful escapades – about his glamorous home, his allegedly dodgy tenderpreneur deals, his gushing praise of malevolent dictators, or his soundly articulated international economic policy.2010 November 10, Pratish Mistry, “Why Julius Malema is important to the ANC”, in NewsTime

adjectiveRisky.

  • This is a slightly dodgy plan, because there is a lot that is being changed for this fix.
  • “The market is getting edgier and edgier, and what is accepted in the marketplace gets dodgier and dodgier,” said Martin E.2007 November 1, Louise Story, “F.T.C. to Review Online Ads and Privacy”, in The New York Times

adjectiveDeviant.

  • He's a dodgy Peeping Tom.

adjectiveUncomfortable and weird.

  • The situation was right dodgy.
  • I'm feeling dodgy today, probably got the flu.
  • Churchill's own forefathers were among the dodgiest of the lot -- one a spendthrift, another a child molester, a third so reclusive that he went three years without saying a word.2002 October 27, Burkhard Bilger, “Fortune Hunters and Gatherers”, in The New York Times

More sentences with dodgy

  • While you're in the city center, look out for the dodgy street vendors.From the entry look out
  • If only you'd been supplying the people of Margate with arabica beans instead of dodgy class As.2024 January 21, Jack Rooke, “Tennis Table Tennis”, in Jim Archer, director, Big Boys, season 2, episode 3, spoken by Danny (Jon Pointing). From the entry class A
  • Lots of dodgy stories start with Truck-kun, and I don't want mine to end with it.2022, Dean Henegar, “The Summoned Life”, in Legendary LitRPG: An All Genres LitRPG Anthology, unnumbered page. From the entry Truck-kun
  • The French Riviera has long been a favorite playland for dodgy characters of all stripes.2007 January 22, Craig S. Smith, “For Sale: Hussein’s Riviera Villa”, in New York Times. From the entry playland
  • Smudger An old term for a photographer, one that alludes to dodgy developing.2004, Ray Puxley, Britslang: An Uncensored A-Z of the People's Language, Including Rhyming Slang, Robson, published 2004, page 456. From the entry smudger
  • I'm getting a better stream on my dodgy box.2023 April 30, hail_hail, Kerrydale Street. From the entry dodgy box
  • Earlier this week, eBay announced it was removing pre-loaded dodgy boxes, meaning those with Kodi Android software already on them.2017 April 26, Gordon Hunt, “Are dodgy boxes illegal? The EU has its say”, in Silicon Republic, Dublin. From the entry dodgy box
  • It means it’s being viewed so often, and shared so frequently, that YouTube has to check that nothing dodgy is happening.2014, Steve Sammartino, The Great Fragmentation and Why the Future of Business Is Small, Wiley, →ISBN, page 226. From the entry viewcount
  • From the outset, the scheme looked dodgy.2002 March 11, David Cox, “Blair counts the counties out”, in New Statesman, volume 131, London, →ISSN, archived from the original on 27…. From the entry Cornishperson
  • Both Garry and Wally were dressed in dodgy suits and looked ready to hit the streets of Peckham to sell moody goods.2023, Garry McCarthy, Paula Harding, Tribute to a Hero, page 131. From the entry moody
  • So humans are rampant dodgy dot connectors, and they also suffer from an array of biases that make them susceptible to faulty belief.2014 November 8, Will Storr, “'Ebola is man-made', and other crazy conspiracy theories”, in The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media…. From the entry dot connector
  • After stuffing themselves and their clients full of dodgy mortgages at bogus prices with shoddy assertions of safety, many of the world's biggest banks toppled when housing prices fell.2015, Jason Zweig, The Devil's Financial Dictionary, PublicAffairs, →ISBN, page 1. From the entry earn
  • So let's now have the drains up and have a good old look at some dodgy working practices that should have gone out with the ark.2008, Kevin Duncan, So What?, page 65. From the entry have the drains up
  • But the realistic side stepped in — y'know, if you're on the point of giving birth, you don't really need a bunch of grebos playing some dodgy old music downstairs.2002, Glyn Brown, “Baxter Dury: Chip off the old Blockhead”, in The Independent on Sunday. From the entry grebo

Meaning of dodgy

  1. adjective Evasive and shifty.
  2. adjective Unsound and unreliable.
  3. adjective Dishonest.

Full definition of dodgy

Questions about dodgy in a sentence

How do you use dodgy in a sentence?
Dodgy is used as an adjective. For example: “Asked why, a spokesman gave a dodgy answer about legal ramifications.”
What is a short sentence with dodgy?
“He's a dodgy Peeping Tom.”
What does dodgy mean?
Dodgy means evasive and shifty.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dodgy (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use dodgy in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/dodgy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.