Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. Partially opened: left the door ajar.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Out of harmony; jarring.
- On the turn; neither quite open nor shut; partly opened: said of a door.
Wiktionary
- adv. Slightly turned or opened.
- adv. Being at variance or in contradiction to something.
- adj. Slightly turned or opened.
- v. rare, perhaps nonstandard To turn or open slightly; to become ajar or to cause to become ajar; to be or to hang ajar.
- v. rare, perhaps nonstandard To show variance or contradiction with something; to be or cause to be askew.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. Slightly turned or opened.
- adv. In a state of discord; out of harmony.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. slightly open
Etymologies
- From Middle English ajar, on char ("on [the] turn"), from on ("on") + char ("turn, occasion"), from Old English ċierr, cyrr ("turn"), from Old English ċierran ("to turn, convert"), equivalent to a- + char. Akin to Dutch akerre, kier ("ajar"), German kehren ("to turn"). See char. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English on char : on, in; see on + char, turn (from Old English cierr). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“After the 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar.”
“Notwithstanding the Constitution was undermined and ridden with wording so as to leave the door to American soverignity ajar, that is a deception that can be corrected and why hasn't it been these two centuries later?”
“Not wide open, but what is called ajar -- manifestly not locked or barred, but not sufficiently open for one to look in.”
“Kalau Nazri sudah kurang ajar akapada TDM, pemimpin yang banyak berjasa kapada negara, saya fikir tak perlu kita panggil dia YB lagi.”
“Me and a friend were walking thru a mall and saw someone with low rise sweats, "ajar" to partially show a lower-back tat, and of course, generous back fat.”
“Which is undoubtedly a comforting distinction if you’re the guy who had to pee in ajar.”
“Do you think the picture gains, or loses, by representing the door as "ajar" instead of wide open?”
Higher Lessons in English A work on english grammar and composition
“We had lots of brainstorms, loads of suggestions and ideas were written down; some will be available during 'ajar', some have been filed away for the future.”
“So if you need a door ajar or else without the cat running through it, placing the bottle in the doorway will usually keep it away.”
Keep Your Cats From Destroying Your Furniture | Lifehacker Australia
“We may gain the next slide guitar virtuoso from someone making that door ajar through their small diverse radio station.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ajar’.
-
sdamle1
echt
echt, apocalypse, resurgence, forthright, logorrhea, mercurial, torrid, exorcise, obscure, intrusive, morose, vindictive and 99 more...
-
When a door is ajar
Words with the prefix "a"
ajar, asleep, akin, ablaze, afoot, abed, aground, aback, afloat, alive, abaft, abloom and 91 more...
-
Ar!
ar, Ar, argon, are, area, arf, arc, ark, aardwolf, aardvark, aardcucumber, yardarm and 253 more...
-
Thresholds
we are all just passing through.
(boundaries, portals and liminal spaces/times)cockcrow, interface, thin line, portal, postern, littoral, interstice, port, membrane, skin, crepuscule, dawn and 304 more...
-
GRE Words
abjure, unswear, state, rescission, indemnification, ab, reny, abnegate, vitiated, vitiate, adumbrated, abash and 378 more...
-
ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
-
DYSLEXIC'S DREAD
Words That Make Sense in Reverse Too! Bad news for a dyslexic, 'cause s/he's got no clue if s/he read the word correctly or not, as opposed to a palindrome (i.e., no mistake possible, cf. "Dyslexic...
tool, lever, nap, pool, leer, leek, desserts, strop, doom, ukiah, yaws, ward and 213 more...
-
Words Covered in Faery Dust (A)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
abalone, abbey, abundant, aconite, acorn, addled, adept, aeon, aerie, aglow, ague, aire and 99 more...
-
boychoir's Words
tantamount, nom de guerre, absurd, dolt, transmute, dichotomy, dandy, schadenfreude, ennui, binary, analog, obfuscate and 93 more...
-
merfee's Words
supple, dichotomy, relish, rhapsody, pneumonoultramicr..., embrace, ishmael, ebullient, recalcitrant, elegy, char, lugubrious and 522 more...
-
The Old English Influence
Modern English words impacted by and descended from Old English.
a, aback, abaft, abide, about, above, abode, accursed, accurst, ache, acknowledge, acorn and 109 more...
-
Permutations
There are 17576 different sequences of three letters (26 x 26 x 26). How many of them occur in words? General rules of engagement: mononyms only, lower case preferred to upper case, short preferred...
aaargh, niqaabi, Isaac, raad, baaed, haaf, laager, aah, kamaaina, Naajaat, aak, aalii and 637 more...
-
lucidityprevails's Words
lucidity, journalistic, truthiness, foolhardy, egotism, lesbian, orgasmic, activism, moonglow, voodoo, conquer, demolish and 534 more...
-
Distant Star
Vocabulary words from the book, "Distant Star"
affable, incongruous, enigmatic, pungent, peculiar, derived, outshone, palpable, discreet, infiltrate, smother, ethical and 14 more...
-
New words from Reading
woe, kingmaker, tizzy, lark, verity, marzipan, swoon, chutzpah, quiescence, curlicue, bedevil, quixotic and 69 more...
-
Awords
Say "Aaaaaaaaa...." For definition see "aword".
agape, aboard, afoot, ajar, aword, awash, avast, award, athwart, awake, alive, about and 8 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ajar.
oroboros Raja in reverse. Jul 22, 2007