nook
Americannoun
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a corner, as in a room.
-
any secluded or obscure corner.
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any small recess.
a breakfast nook.
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any remote or sheltered spot.
a shady nook that was ideal for a picnic.
noun
-
a corner or narrow recess, as in a room
-
a secluded or sheltered place; retreat
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of nook
1250–1300; Middle English nok
Explanation
A nook is a cozy little corner or a small, safe area. A nook in the library can be a nice place to sit and read. If you have a "breakfast nook" in your kitchen, you know it's a space set back from the main room, maybe built into a corner or under a window, where you can sit at a small table. All nooks are small and sheltered in some way. You may have come across nook in the phrase "nook and cranny." This is often meant figuratively, as when you search every single nook and cranny in your whole house looking for your wallet.
Vocabulary lists containing nook
The BFG
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Mississippi Trial, 1955
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The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise
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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.
Adjacent to the kitchen, there is an adorable breakfast nook with French doors that open up to the perfectly manicured grounds.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 23, 2026
AI companies have been working tirelessly to stuff generative and agentic AI into every nook and cranny of our online lives.
From Salon • Jun. 10, 2026
Passengers were shimmying in practically every nook and cranny in the auditorium.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 3, 2026
Ghazal Tansir, a Delhi-based doctor who first visited the club for her wedding reception in 2019 through a relative's membership, described it as "a preserved, undisturbed little nook of memories".
From BBC • May 25, 2026
Theo repeats, scanning the packed parlor as if a secret remote nook will somehow appear between the perspiring bodies.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
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.
