crooked
Americanadjective
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not straight; bending; curved.
a crooked path.
-
The picture on the wall seems to be crooked.
-
a man with a crooked back.
- Synonyms:
- misshapen
-
not straightforward; dishonest.
- Synonyms:
- fraudulent, deceitful, knavish, unscrupulous
-
bent and often raised or moved to one side, as a finger or neck.
-
(of a coin) polygonal.
a crooked sixpence.
adjective
-
bent, angled or winding
-
set at an angle; not straight
-
deformed or contorted
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informal dishonest or illegal
-
informal hostile or averse to
Other Word Forms
- crookedly adverb
- crookedness noun
- uncrooked adjective
- uncrookedly adverb
Etymology
Origin of crooked
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English croked; crook 1, -ed 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He successfully lobbied for laws in the U.S., the U.K. and European Union that provide financial sanctions against crooked foreign officials and human rights violators.
From Barron's
I stay low to the ground, sneak along the back of Mrs. Jones’s yard until I reach the rear of Dad’s and climb the three crooked cement steps to the door.
From Literature
But up there where my neck craned to see, above the crazy roofs and crooked chimneys, was a square of pale pearl sky.
From Literature
He picked up the chalk, pointed at the blackboard, and wrote a large, crooked A. Turning in her big chair, Little Britches gave him all her attention.
From Literature
A show at Hauser & Wirth, “Sometimes a straight line has to be crooked,” puts Henry Taylor’s work in the same room with the work of his mentor, California Modernist James Jarvaise.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
