junky

adjective

ˈjəŋ-kē How to pronounce junky (audio)
Definition of junkynext
1
as in worthless
having no usefulness that broken watch you're wearing is junky

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in cheap
of low quality a junky coat that is sure to fall apart after one winter

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of junky Just in the past two days, the spicy, junky stuff has come in a bit ( quantum , drones , upstart nuclear power ), helpfully. — Michael Santoli, CNBC, 17 Oct. 2025 Walmart has the same problem as Amazon with junky, super-cheap listings, and even Newegg keeps listings up like this. — Luke Larsen, Wired News, 28 Sep. 2025 The restaurant only has one Formica table in a junky storage area by the drink fountain. — Bud Kennedy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 May 2025 Blomkamp can’t quite recapture the explosive propulsion of his debut feature, but Damon is a sturdy hero, and the director creates a convincingly junky future. — Jason Bailey, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for junky
Recent Examples of Synonyms for junky
  1. worthless
  2. cheap
  3. empty
  4. terrible
  5. poor
  6. bad
  7. inferior
  8. rotten
Adjective
  • What otherwise might have been worthless bits of trash commanded the highest bids due to where the two items were 57 years ago—lifting off aboard NASA’s Apollo 11 spacecraft on humanity’s first mission to land astronauts on the Moon.
    — Robert Pearlman, ArsTechnica, 15 July 2026
  • When software moves money on its own, a procedures document is worthless.
    — Rahul Bhatia, Forbes.com, 8 July 2026
Definition of worthless
Adjective
  • The new buildings also provided cheaper housing options for Caracas workers who couldn’t afford to live in the city.
    — Syra Ortiz-Blanes, Miami Herald, 24 July 2026
  • The Steamfitters were staging protests outside the Pfizer site, accusing the MetroLoft — which employs a mix of union and nonunion contractors — of building on the cheap and tolerating unsafe work conditions.
    — Andrew Rice, Curbed, 23 July 2026
Definition of cheap
Adjective
  • As with most malls in the United States, its final years were marked by just a tiny trickle of shoppers who had to pass empty storefronts to reach the few remaining open businesses.
    — Don Stacom, Hartford Courant, 19 July 2026
  • The 80,000-capacity New York New Jersey stadium was packed with few empty seats in the sea of red and white and blue at the final matchup of Spain versus Argentina.
    — Caitlin Huston, HollywoodReporter, 19 July 2026
Definition of empty
Adjective
  • Why do some people stay in terrible, horrible, no good, very bad jobs?
    — Joseph Kim, NPR, 22 July 2026
  • Three years ago, Victor Wembanyama was terrible, and Houston’s Cam Whitmore won Summer MVP.
    — John Hollinger, New York Times, 22 July 2026
Definition of terrible
Adjective
  • Madrid had a poor 2024-25, failing to win the Spanish title or the Champions League, but Mbappe still scored 42 goals in 44 appearances.
    — Tim Spiers, New York Times, 21 July 2026
  • Using Neanderthal cranium shapes to estimate specific brain regions’ volume, some investigators claimed to see signs of a mind with feeble linguistic abilities, poor executive function and an unremarkable memory.
    — Cody Cottier, Scientific American, 20 July 2026
Definition of poor
Adjective
  • The situation is particularly bad in France, which has already recorded more than 300 wildfires this year, compared to an annual average of 93, according to the EFFIS.
    — Issy Ronald, CNN Money, 24 July 2026
  • Anderson’s injury record is slightly worse by virtue of a stress fracture in his back that kept him out for four months in the middle of the 2023-24 season, but over the two subsequent campaigns both have been near-constantly available.
    — Cerys Jones, New York Times, 24 July 2026
Definition of bad
Adjective
  • The game is far worse and inferior when a team is down to 10.
    — The Athletic UK Staff, New York Times, 22 July 2026
  • There was a time when Irish, Italians, Jews and Chinese who came here were viewed as inferior.
    — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 10 July 2026
Definition of inferior
Adjective
  • The family trees here have a lot of branches and some of them are a bit rotten.
    — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 16 July 2026
  • The place to really advance the argument that something is rotten with elections is in the states, where officials have actual authority over the ballots, the drop boxes, the voting machines—the building blocks of elections.
    — Hanna Rosin, The Atlantic, 16 July 2026
Definition of rotten

Browse Nearby Words

junks
junky
junkyard
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Cite this Entry

“Junky.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/junky. Accessed 24 Jul. 2026.

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