crooked
Americanadjective
-
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
-
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.
Harlow smiles again, and her crooked grin is possibly the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.
From Literature
![]()
In her hands was a sickle moon, and behind her was an outcrop of spindly red trees with branches that looked like crooked fingers.
From Literature
![]()
He went over to the box and above the words Super Cool he wrote “Submarine” in crooked letters.
From Literature
![]()
And sometimes, if you’re lucky, it gives that memory crooked eyes and a weird smile.
From Salon
If my rows were crooked or unevenly spaced, Olka ripped them out.
From Literature
![]()
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.