CROOKED

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does crooked mean? 

• CROOKED (adjective)
  The adjective CROOKED has 4 senses:

1. having or marked by bends or angles; not straight or aligned

2. not straight; dishonest or immoral or evasive

3. irregular in shape or outline

4. having the back and shoulders rounded; not erect

  Familiarity information: CROOKED used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CROOKED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having or marked by bends or angles; not straight or aligned

Context example:

crooked teeth

Similar:

malposed (characterized by malposition)

zig-zag; zigzag (having short sharp turns or angles)

wry (bent to one side)

windblown (used especially of trees; growing in a shape determined by the prevailing winds)

warped (used especially of timbers or boards; bent out of shape usually by moisture)

tortuous; twisting; twisty; voluminous; winding (marked by repeated turns and bends)

squiggly (wavy and twisting)

reflexed ((of leaves) bent downward and outward more than 90 degrees)

gnarled; gnarly; knobbed; knotted; knotty (used of old persons or old trees; covered with knobs or knots)

geniculate (bent at a sharp angle)

deflective; refractive (capable of changing the direction (of a light or sound wave))

contorted; writhed; writhen (twisted (especially as in pain or struggle))

askew; awry; cockeyed; lopsided; skew-whiff; wonky (turned or twisted toward one side)

aquiline; hooked (curved down like an eagle's beak)

anfractuous (full of twists and turns)

akimbo ((used of arms and legs) bent outward with the joint away from the body)

Also:

indirect (not direct in spatial dimension; not leading by a straight line or course to a destination)

coiled (curled or wound (especially in concentric rings or spirals))

Attribute:

configuration; conformation; contour; form; shape (any spatial attributes (especially as defined by outline))

Antonym:

straight (having no deviations)

Derivation:

crookedness (having or distinguished by crooks or curves or bends or angles)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Not straight; dishonest or immoral or evasive

Synonyms:

corrupt; crooked

Similar:

sneaky; underhand; underhanded (marked by deception)

Also:

dishonest; dishonorable (deceptive or fraudulent; disposed to cheat or defraud or deceive)

unlawful (contrary to or prohibited by or defiant of law)

Attribute:

honestness; honesty (the quality of being honest)

Antonym:

straight (characterized by honesty and fairness)

Derivation:

crookedness (the quality of being deceitful and underhanded)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Irregular in shape or outline

Synonyms:

asymmetrical; crooked

Context example:

a dress with a crooked hemline

Similar:

irregular (contrary to rule or accepted order or general practice)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Having the back and shoulders rounded; not erect

Synonyms:

crooked; hunched; round-backed; round-shouldered; stooped; stooping

Context example:

a little oldish misshapen stooping woman

Similar:

unerect (not upright in position or posture)

 Context examples 

But the anchor still held them in its crooked claw, and Sir Oliver with fifty men was hard upon their heels.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The hand, with fingers crooked and spread apart, rubbed his stomach in a playful way and rolled him from side to side.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

A common early symptom is that straight lines appear crooked.

(Macular Degeneration, NIH: National Eye Institute)

I do not like crooked, twisted, blasted trees.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

What Bill Warr says is straight, and what Joe Berks does is crooked.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Do you know that your smile is crooked?” I asked him; for I knew that she must attend him, and I wished to save her as much as possible.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

On the near side, the sea-wall makes an elbow crooked inversely, and its end too has a lighthouse.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

So the crooked courses will become crookeder, at any moment, for the least reason, or for none.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He crooked the arm next to her—crooked it very slightly and with secret tentativeness, not invitingly, but just casually, as though he was accustomed to walk that way.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A few small coins, a thimble, and some thread and big needles, a piece of pigtail tobacco bitten away at the end, his gully with the crooked handle, a pocket compass, and a tinder box were all that they contained, and I began to despair.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)