crooked

adjective

crook·​ed ˈkru̇-kəd How to pronounce crooked (audio)
1
: not straight
a crooked road
Your tie is crooked.
2
: dishonest
a crooked election
crooked politicians
crookedly adverb
crookedness noun

Examples of crooked in a Sentence

a long, crooked line of people had formed in front of the ticket booth the common belief that gambling casinos are often crooked businesses
Recent Examples on the Web The students, Murillo declared, had been abducted by crooked municipal police from Iguala and neighboring towns. Alma Guillermoprieto, The New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2024 German was a local legend – renowned for his reporting on infamous mobsters, crooked politicians and murderers. Peter Van Sant, CBS News, 17 Feb. 2024 And if that wasn’t bad enough, the subsequent falsehoods by the former president and his supporters about what actually happened on this infamous day have now bent reality for many Republican voters, the majority of whom tell polls the 2020 election was crooked. Keith Kloor, Scientific American, 9 Feb. 2024 Even before Missouri voters legalized medical marijuana in 2018, the FBI had launched a sting operation aimed at ensnaring crooked politicians around Kansas City willing to cash in on what would become a billion-dollar industry. Mike Hendricks, Kansas City Star, 7 Feb. 2024 Danvers hides the truth about the spate of Ennis deaths (the scientists, and that of crooked Hank Prior in last week's episode) from investigators. Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 19 Feb. 2024 Their visage, which is dominated by an acerbic and often crooked grin, thrives on physicality. Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 6 Feb. 2024 The inside of her mouth is still a jumble of missing and crooked teeth. Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 4 Feb. 2024 As teenagers on TikTok begin to feel nostalgia about the past, when celebrities didn’t have stylists and actresses still had their naturally crooked teeth, could the return of pubic hair become this generation’s next cri de cour? Laia Garcia-Furtado, Vogue, 25 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'crooked.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

see crook entry 2

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of crooked was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near crooked

Cite this Entry

“Crooked.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crooked. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

crooked

adjective
crook·​ed ˈkru̇k-əd How to pronounce crooked (audio)
1
: having bends and curves
a crooked path
2
: not set or placed straight
the picture is crooked
3
: dishonest
a crooked card game
crookedly adverb
crookedness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on crooked

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!