How to Use dodgy in a Sentence

dodgy

adjective
  • The car's got a dodgy engine.
  • They got into a dodgy situation.
  • Good goals do not excuse dodgy deeds.
    — Krista Kafer, Denver Post, 19 Aug. 2025
  • And the point where things could start getting dodgy isn’t too far away.
    — Alicia Wallace, CNN Money, 23 Mar. 2026
  • This cat grew up in the dodgy Leith highrises.
    — Deborah Treisman, New Yorker, 1 Feb. 2026
  • Apple’s dodgy start in AI could be overturned, two new reports say.
    — David Phelan, Forbes.com, 14 June 2026
  • But not all matches will be available on free broadcasts, and experts warn that scammers will try to tap demand by setting up dodgy streaming sites.
    — ABC News, 17 June 2026
  • To be sure, there is some research to indicate that these unauthorized streams will bombard you with pop-up ads for dodgy gambling sites and crypto scams.
    — Olivia Solon, Bloomberg, 27 Jan. 2026
  • The diner, Sweet Emily’s, is on the same dodgy street as Lee’s store, Hoot Owls Books.
    — Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 24 Sep. 2025
  • But there’s a reason the Golden Knights don’t land in the top five and that’s due to a dodgy draft record without much homegrown talent to show for it.
    — Dom Luszczyszyn, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2025
  • And yet, somewhere in the city, someone is being arrested and detained as an enemy of the state under dodgy pretenses.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 16 Aug. 2025
  • Through the dodgiest situations, brother and sister do not hesitate to argue.
    — Television Critic, Los Angeles Times, 15 Apr. 2026
  • Workers encourage customers not to abandon ship, but to ask Powell’s about their dodgier policies, and celebrate their good ones.
    — Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 9 Sep. 2025
  • The emails were the last straw for the House of Windsor after years of tawdry headlines about Andrew’s dodgy friends and suspicious business deals.
    — CNN Money, 19 Oct. 2025
  • But thanks to mad scientist and some dodgy experimentation, there is a harry creature on the loose, threatening to ruin the party.
    — Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 18 Mar. 2026
  • On social media, where complaints about dodgy deliveries are a more common occurrence, Singh’s thoughtful act went viral.
    — Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 22 Aug. 2025
  • Plus, is dodgy data undermining medical research?
    — TheWeek, 16 Jan. 2026
  • Without doubt, the dodgy countries who are major state miners will be very uncomfortable, and many will be preparing their bugout bags of BTC.
    — Clem Chambers, Forbes.com, 7 Jan. 2026
  • Cue a whole host of dodgy deals and shady string-pulling, not to mention an extramarital affair, as the entirely fictional — but no doubt true to life — character abandons any sense of morality.
    — Jon O'Brien, Vulture, 26 June 2026
  • He’s also involved in some dodgy side hustles, which leads to a lot of peripheral gunplay and tangential, ha-ha–bang-bang set pieces that feel cherry-picked from Coen’s back catalog.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 20 Aug. 2025
  • Is dodgy data undermining medical research?
    — TheWeek, 16 Jan. 2026
  • Elsa argues with her mother, Isabel doesn’t like to be questioned and pretends everything’s all right, while Amalia hangs with dodgy characters and makes claims that seem real only to her.
    — Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 25 May 2026
  • Millions of Americans with obesity are eager to get the drug, with options being limited so far to enrolling in a clinical trial or trying to obtain it by dodgy methods.
    — Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 23 June 2026
  • Things get even dodgier in the coming years, with the vast majority of data centers planned for launch between 2028 and 2032 having yet to even break ground.
    — Joe Wilkins, Futurism, 2 Apr. 2026
  • The rapport between these two veteran actors turn what could have been seriously dodgy caricatures into a first-rate double act — think Abbott and Costello with sidecurls and silencers.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 28 Aug. 2025
  • Seider popped early in his career, making Detroit’s roster as a 20-year-old and showing a mix of offensive production, defensive tools that outran some dodgy five-on-five results and a rare-for-its-time mean streak.
    — The Athletic Nhl, New York Times, 24 Sep. 2025
  • The business is, and has always been, a dodgy boondoggle; not for nothing were the old-money WASPs at the East Coast banks reticent to put capital behind fledgling Hollywood.
    — Nick Pinkerton, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Throughout the ups and downs of his year, Notting Hill remains a steady backdrop, the tattoo shop and the dodgy hairdresser and the market stalls of Portobello giving a loose sense of permanence as time inevitably passes and summer moves into fall, winter, and then spring.
    — Lale Arikoglu, Condé Nast Traveler, 9 June 2024
  • Greenstein and Goldberg tried — and failed — to dissuade their boss from giving Will Smith and his company Westbrook an overall deal with the studio, arguing that the Oscar-slap controversy and a dodgy box office track record would result in more headaches than hits.
    — Tatiana Siegel, Variety, 4 Nov. 2025
  • Whatever, Dever quickly recanted her earlier precise testimony to the FBI about the sinister doings by those two dodgy cops behind Karen Read’s SUV.
    — Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 13 Sep. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dodgy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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