crooked

[krook-id, krookt]

adjective

1. not straight; bending; curved.

   a crooked path.

   Synonyms: twisted, spiral, tortuous, flexuous, sinuous, devious, winding

2. askew; awry.

   The picture on the wall seems to be crooked.

3. deformed.

   a man with a crooked back.

   Synonyms: misshapen

4. not straightforward; dishonest.

   Synonyms: fraudulent, deceitful, knavish, unscrupulous

5. bent and often raised or moved to one side, as a finger or neck.

6. (of a coin) polygonal.

   a crooked sixpence.

crooked

/ ˈkrʊkɪd /

adjective

1. bent, angled or winding

2. set at an angle; not straight

3. deformed or contorted

4. informal,  dishonest or illegal

5. informal,  hostile or averse to

Other Word Forms

• crookedly adverb
• crookedness noun
• uncrooked adjective
• uncrookedly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of crooked¹

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English croked; crook ¹, -ed ²

Example Sentences

During their second-half slide, that dynamic had prevented them from working around injuries and mechanical flaws from much of the lineup, or finding alternative ways to build big innings and hang crooked numbers.

From Los Angeles Times

Really loving someone means appreciating their idiosyncrasies, like “their little 11 line or a little crooked tooth — these little imperfections that become so beautiful to you.”

From Los Angeles Times

That holds regardless of how crooked a show’s megachurch culture is depicted to be because its true purpose is rarely explored.

From Salon

He was deep and surprisingly tall, though crooked and bald, and his robes hung long.

From Los Angeles Times

As well has his colourful remarks to me on the phone during our recent interview, the US President has variously called judges "crooked", "monsters", "deranged", "lunatics", "USA hating", and "radical left".

From BBC

Related Words

• curved www.thesaurus.com
• curving www.thesaurus.com
• devious 
• errant 
• gnarled 
• meandering 
• serpentine 
• sinuous 
• twisted 
• twisting 
• winding