EN

Synonyms for crook

22 synonyms
1 antonym
2 meanings

noun

Most common

criminal villain felon hoodlum bend hook con-man swindler

Synonyms by meaning

Noun

1. Criminal

criminal, felon, hoodlum, villain, perpetrator, outlaw, malefactor, culprit, offender

2. Bend

bend, turn, twist, wind, deflection, inflection, inflexion UK, crank dated

Other

con-man, hook, swindler, pot-hook, crozier UK, crosier US, ganef slang

Antonyms

All antonyms of crook →

Definitions

n. 1
A bend; turn; curve; curvature; a flexure.
She held the baby in the crook of her arm.
n. 2
A bending of the knee; a genuflection.

Related words

Word family: crookback crookbacked crookbill crookneck crooked
Phrases: arm in crook on the crook

Forms

Plural: crooks → criminals, felons, hoodlums, villains…

Choose the right word

Crook, Bend or Crooked?

To crook is to bend irregularly, as a crooked stick.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

criminal Fadil was engaged in a lot of criminal activities.
villain The villain threatened to defenestrate the hostages.
felon Sami failed to mention he was a convicted felon.
hoodlum I didn't want to add this hoodlum as a friend on Twitter.
bend Bend over backwards for him and he still complain.
hook Please hang your coat on the hook behind the door.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
crook		rising
criminal		steady
villain		rising
felon		rising
hoodlum		steady
bend		rising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

4 letters: turn¹, wind¹, hook¹, bend¹
5 letters: twist¹, crank¹, felon², ganef
6 letters: outlaw²
7 letters: villain², culprit², crozier², hoodlum², crosier
8 letters: criminal³, offender³, swindler³
9 letters: inflexion
10 letters: deflection³, inflection³, malefactor⁴
11 letters: perpetrator⁴

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (felon² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: escroc
Italiano: truffatore
Español: estafador
Deutsch: Betrüger