Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Pale and sickly in appearance: Describing someone who looks unwell, thin, or drawn, often suggesting illness or fatigue.
   • Having or characterized by peaks: In technical contexts, particularly audio engineering, describing a sound or signal that contains sharp, high-pitched points or frequencies.

Usage and Examples

• Describing a person's appearance:

  • She's been looking a bit peaky lately; I hope she's not coming down with something.
  • After the long illness, his face was thin and peaky.

• Describing sound characteristics:

  • The audio recording was marred by a peaky, tinny quality in the upper frequencies.
  • The engineer adjusted the equalizer to smooth out the peaky highs.

Advanced Usage and Nuances

• The term often implies a temporary or noticeable state of unhealthiness rather than a permanent condition. It can carry a tone of concern or mild criticism regarding one's physical state.
• In technical audio descriptions, "peaky" is a negative quality, suggesting a lack of balance, harshness, or undesirable sharpness in the sound profile, as opposed to a smooth frequency response.

Variants and Related Words

• Peak (noun/verb): The pointed top of a mountain; a point of highest intensity. This is the root word from which "peaky" is derived.
• Peaked (adjective): This is a more common variant meaning "pale and sickly." It is often used interchangeably with "peaky" in this sense.
  • He had a peaked complexion after working all night.

Synonyms

• For "pale and sickly": Pale, wan, pallid, sickly, drawn, haggard, gaunt.
• For "having sharp peaks" (technical): Spiky, sharp, uneven, jagged.

Antonyms

• For "pale and sickly": Rosy, healthy, robust, blooming.
• For "having sharp peaks" (technical): Smooth, flat, even, balanced.

Notes on Usage

• The "pale and sickly" meaning is primarily used in British English but is understood in other varieties of English.
• The audio/technical meaning is specialized and used within fields like music production, engineering, and electronics.
• When describing a person, "peaky" is typically used predicatively (e.g., "You look peaky") rather than attributively (e.g., "a peaky child"), though both constructions are possible.

Adjective

1. having or as if having especially high-pitched spots
   • absence of peaky highs and beefed-up bass