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

From a leg-stump line, the ball appeared to then move in the air in the opposite direction, past Cook's crooked grope to kiss the top of off stump.

Read more on BBC

Out front was a crooked sign that read Hilltop Farm.

Read more on Literature

"It was never meant to be controversial but clearly, other than the crooked spire, Chesterfield right at this moment is more famous for this flag."

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Mr. Milei ran on a promise to throw out a crooked political class, so a couple of corruption scandals in his own government haven’t helped.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Cheever had been struggling to finish a novel and was furious at his daughter and her crooked teeth for interrupting him.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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