If something is askew, it is not sitting straight or in the right position — a picture hanging a bit to one side, a hat knocked crooked, glasses sliding on a nose. It can be a simple fact about position, or a gentle way to say things have gone off-centre. Though actually, it does not usually mean “completely wrecked”; it means “off,” often just a little. You can use it of objects and, a bit more loosely, of plans or situations that are not lined up as they should be. It is more colourful than “crooked,” and you hear it in both speech and writing. Built from a- plus skew.