Dictionary

jerkiness en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree English jerky Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English jerkiness From jerky + -ness.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The state or quality of being jerky (characterized by sudden uneven motion or progress).
   • […] there was a good deal of jerkiness apparent in the motion of the car, especially when the wheels turned into the numerous ruts of the drive. 1879, Frank Frankfort Moore, chapter 1, in Daireen, volume I, London: Smith, Elder & Co., page 12:
   • 1962, Hansard, Incomes Policy, 4 July, 1962, One reason why we get into difficulties in the public sector is the jerkiness with which this problem is dealt with. Teachers, or nurses, or bus drivers, or whoever it may be, are given a substantial rise. But then, for the next six or seven years no further increases are awarded to them and the Government suddenly wake up to the fact that these groups have fallen far behind everybody else.
   • It was not going to be a serious flogging since ineptitude rather than criminality was being punished; and Shama moved about with a comic jerkiness, as though she knew she was only an actor in a farce and not, like Sumati at the house-blessing in The Chase, a figure of high tragedy. 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part One, Chapter 4:
   • 1993, Siglind Bruhn, J. S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier: In-Depth Analysis and Interpretation, Hong Kong: Mainter International, Volume IV, WTC II/21 in Bᵇ major - Prelude, p. 137, […] the rhythmic pattern […] contains the typical features of a gigue. The tempo should be chosen accordingly; it should be fast enough to depict the jerkiness of the gregarious dance, but not so rushed as to render the intricate patterns of imitations as a simple technical show.
   • In 1900 Planck announced that radiant energy could only be propagated in tiny, indivisible bundles which he called quanta. Furthermore these bundles did not proceed through space continuously, but by jumps. It was not long before experimenters were finding this lumpiness and jerkiness everywhere. 1933 September 11, “Maxwell-Quantum Theory”, in Time:
2. (countable, informal, uncountable) The behavior of a jerk (unpleasant person).

Forms

Antonyms

smoothness