scheve

Scheve is a Dutch adjective form used before a noun, with the common base form scheef meaning not straight, tilted, or crooked. In standard usage, scheve is the attributive inflection of scheef, so you say een scheve muur or een scheve hoek. When used as a predicate adjective, as in De muur is scheef, the form remains scheef rather than scheve.

Geometric and physical usage is the most direct sense. Scheve describes objects or features that are out of alignment, such as walls, lines, or surfaces that are tilted or uneven. It can apply to any scale, from a small item to larger constructions.

Beyond the physical sense, scheve also appears in figurative language. In social and economic contexts, scheve is used to describe biased, unfair, or crooked arrangements, relations, or practices. Examples include scheve verdelingen of resources and scheve praktijken in governance or business. The term conveys a sense of injustice or lack of balance rather than a purely technical tilt.

In dialect and everyday speech, the word is common across Dutch-speaking regions and is closely related to the more general adjective scheef. The standard infinitive form is scheef, with scheve functioning as the attributive form before a noun. Related terms and phrases often appear in discussions of fairness, design, and construction, as well as in descriptions of physical misalignment.

See also: scheef, crooked, bias in language.