Crooked

//kɹʊkt// adj, verb

adj, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    simple past and past participle of crook form-of, participle, past
Adjective
  1. 1
    Not straight; having one or more bends or angles.

    "We walked up the crooked path to the top of the hill."

  2. 2
    Set at an angle; not vertical or square.

    "That picture is crooked - could you straighten it up for me?"

  3. 3
    Dishonest or illegal; corrupt. figuratively

    "He was trying to interest me in another one of his crooked deals."

  4. 4
    ill-tempered; grumpy; cranky. Newfoundland

    "I wouldn't try to talk to him just now, b'y! He's some crooked today!"

Adjective
  1. 1
    having the back and shoulders rounded; not erect wordnet
  2. 2
    irregular in shape or outline wordnet
  3. 3
    having or marked by bends or angles; not straight or aligned wordnet
  4. 4
    not straight; dishonest or immoral or evasive wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
akimboaquilinecontortedgeniculategnarledtwisting

Example

More examples

"My son's front teeth have come in crooked."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From crook, equivalent to crook + -ed.

Etymology 2

From Middle English croked, crokid, past participle of croken (“to crook, bend”). Cognate with Danish kroget (“crooked”). More at crook.

Related phrases

Crooked CornerCrooked Creekcrooked as a barrel of fish hookscrooked as a barrel of snakescrooked as a dog's hind legcrooked numbercrooked tunehell west and crooked

More for "crooked"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.