kook

noun

ˈkük 

: one whose ideas or actions are eccentric, fantastic, or insane : screwball

Synonyms of kook

• eccentric
• character
• crackpot
• wacko
• weirdo
• loon
• loony
• nutcase
• nutter
• nut
• crank
• maverick
• flake

Examples of kook in a Sentence

a bunch of kooks dressed up in weird costumes

if you insist on painting your house bright orange, everyone will assume you are a kook

Recent Examples on the Web

Not the crazy aunt/spell-casting kook who’s going to be film fans’ top Halloween costume this year. — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 9 Aug. 2025

Halaena can tell that something’s up with mummy, but that kook’s never been too concerned with matters of court. — Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 22 June 2026

What so many of these talking heads have in common—legitimate experts, well-meaning journalists, and kooks alike—is how costly their recommendations are. — CBS News, 3 Jan. 2026

Over the years, the term has come to have a slightly pejorative slant, signifying a marginal kook who never quite made it into leading-lady territory. — Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 2 Feb. 2026

Word History

Etymology

by shortening & alteration from cuckoo

First Known Use

1922, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for kook

• fluke
• juke
• luc
• luke
• nuke
• puke
• souk
• spook
• archduke
• rebuke
• caoutchouc

Kids Definition

kook

noun

ˈkük 

: a person who acts in a strange or foolish way : nut

kooky

ˈkü-kē

adjective