Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb & adjective Partially opened.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Out of harmony; jarring.
  • On the turn; neither quite open nor shut; partly opened: said of a door.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb Slightly turned or opened.
  • adverb In a state of discord; out of harmony.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb Slightly turned or opened.
  • adverb Being at variance or in contradiction to something.
  • adjective Slightly turned or opened.
  • verb rare, perhaps nonstandard To turn or open slightly; to become ajar or to cause to become ajar; to be or to hang ajar.
  • verb rare, perhaps nonstandard To show variance or contradiction with something; to be or cause to be askew.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective slightly open

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English on char : on, in; see on + char, turn (from Old English cierr).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word ajar.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Raja in reverse.

    July 22, 2007