flaky

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adj. A term describing a food, such as pie crust, with a dry texture that easily breaks off into flat, flakelike pieces.

(var sp. flakey) Subject to frequent lossage. This use is of course related to the common slang use of the word to describe a person as eccentric, crazy, or just unreliable. A system that is flaky is working, sort of — enough that you are tempted to try to use it — but fails frequently enough that the odds in favor of finishing what you start are low. Commonwealth hackish prefers dodgy or wonky.

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adjective
adjective, orig US

Liable to behave eccentrically; crazy; also, feeble-minded, stupid. (1964 —) .
New Yorker People can choose their own words to describe Qaddafi's mental state—President Reagan called him 'flaky', and later denied that he considered Qaddafi mentally unbalanced (1986).

[Perh. from the notion of 'flaking out' through exhaustion, the influence of drugs, etc.]

Previous:	flake, flak-catcher, fladge
Next:	flaming, flaming onions, flanker

For a list of words related to flaky, see:

• Excessive, Mad, Insane, or Radical

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See words rhyming with "flaky."

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - bestående af flager, som let spalter sig i flager

Nederlands (Dutch)
schilferig, vlokkerig, schilferachtig, raar/ getikt

Français (French)
adj. - floconneux, qui s'écaille, qui pèle, qui s'effrite, (US) barjo (fam), (Culin) feuilleté

Deutsch (German)
adj. - blättrig, schuppig

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - φολιδοειδής, λεπιοειδής, (καθομ.) αναξιόπιστος

Italiano (Italian)
scaglioso, squamoso

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - flocado, lascado

Русский (Russian)
слоеный, психованный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - escamoso, hojaldrado, excéntrico

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - flagig, knäpp (vard.)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
薄片的, 薄而易剥落的, 成片的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 薄片的, 薄而易剝落的, 成片的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 얇은 조각 모양의, 벗겨진

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - はげ落ちやすい, 薄片状の

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) له قشور‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮עשוי עלים-עלים, קשקשי‬

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