as in eccentric
a person of odd or whimsical habits
if you insist on painting your house bright orange, everyone will assume you are a kook
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Recent Examples of kook
At the rose ceremony, Mel hands roses to Roxanne, Debbie, Gerri, Monica P., Monica B., Carol, Peg, Nicolle (of course), Robin, Amy and Terri, with Alexandra the kook among those going home.
—
Dave Nemetz, TVLine, 24 Sep. 2025
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
This is not a game; until the kooks and zealots rampaging over the public health infrastructure are constrained, many people could die.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 9 July 2025
Listen to your doctor, not kooks like Bobby Kennedy and Dave Weldon.
—New York Daily News, Twin Cities, 21 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for kook
Dave Nemetz, TVLine, 24 Sep. 2025
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
This is not a game; until the kooks and zealots rampaging over the public health infrastructure are constrained, many people could die.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 9 July 2025
Listen to your doctor, not kooks like Bobby Kennedy and Dave Weldon.
—New York Daily News, Twin Cities, 21 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for kook
Recent Examples of Synonyms for kook
Noun
-
On her trail are a Báthory relative who is vegetarian (Thomas Schubert), his psychotherapist (Lars Eidinger), two vampirologists, a police inspector and a gallery of eccentrics.—
Elsa Keslassy,
Variety,
14 Feb. 2026
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Catherine O’Hara portrayed ridiculous eccentrics with equal parts hilarity and humanity.—
The Week US,
TheWeek,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Over the past week, a slew of cinematic videos of celebrities and characters in absurd situations have gone viral online, with one commonality –– they were created using a new artificial intelligence tool from Chinese developer ByteDance, sparking anxiety over the fast-evolving capabilities of AI.—
Stephanie Yang,
CNN Money,
20 Feb. 2026
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Transfers have been cancelled if, as Foster says, a player’s character is judged not to be a good fit.—
Richard Sutcliffe,
New York Times,
20 Feb. 2026
Noun
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In one corner, the heartless girlboss; in the other, the crackpot conspiracy theorist (who just happens to be more sympathetic and charismatic than such types usually are).—
Nate Jones,
Vulture,
31 Jan. 2026
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The crackpots are the mainstream.—
David Frum,
The Atlantic,
31 Dec. 2025
Noun
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This wacko crew was one of the greatest things in the history of television.—
Jordan Hoffman,
EW.com,
14 Aug. 2025
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His search takes him to a wacko cult in the desert run by a scamster, and that of course puts the sheriff in deadly danger.—
Sandra Dallas,
Denver Post,
6 July 2025
Noun
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Gus created a host of weirdos, rejects, and more in the book.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
20 Feb. 2026
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Leland and Riordan’s reactive approach to the work of a beloved composer, embellished only with timbre and junk percussion, places a cornerstone of American popular and classical music within their weirdo experimental purview.—
Aly Eleanor,
Pitchfork,
19 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The show also contains numerous Canadian references — cottage country, loons, McGill University — which would have not made sense outside of the Great White North.—
Max Gao,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Feb. 2026
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Bell pressed ahead with the show, loon references and all, and licensed it to HBO.—
Ben Smith,
semafor.com,
31 Jan. 2026
Noun
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That is enough to prompt scheduling a video chat with a purported demonologist (Laura Heisler) who does not seem a nutcase or charlatan.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
10 Aug. 2022
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Although My Donkey, My Lover & I (Antoinette dans les Cévennes) was made in 2020, before Libs of TikTok exposed school-teacher lunacy, writer-director Caroline Vignal proves prescient about the eccentricity that goes deeper than the profession’s nutcase radicalism.—
Armond White,
National Review,
27 July 2022
Noun
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Bits of bacon, mini hot-pockets, nutter butters and doritos.—
Outside Online,
Outside Online,
16 Jan. 2025
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Its founder was not a member of Congress but Paul Weyrich, a hard-right nutter with theocratic leanings with a fair claim to being the Johnny Appleseed of the New Right, having also co-founded the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority, and the American Legislative Exchange Council.—
Timothy Noah,
The New Republic,
27 Mar. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Kook.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/kook. Accessed 26 Feb. 2026.
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