crooked
part of speech
adjective (crooked, more crooked, most crooked); pronounced «KROOK-id»
meaning for a pupil
1) Crooked means not straight; bent, twisted or uneven. tree →
2) A crooked person is dishonest and cheats people. tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: In the Torah it means twisted in character, not simply bent, and describes people who have turned away from God. The Writings also use it for bent, twisted paths and for things that cannot be made straight. Interpretation: Moses uses it in his last song to blame Israel for its own faults rather than God. Tradition reads it as a warning to stay on a straight, honest path. Ecclesiastes' saying that the crooked cannot be made straight is read as showing the limits of human power to fix what is wrong. In the primary lessons: In everyday life it describes teeth, pictures on a wall, lines, roads and smiles. In maths, a crooked line is not a straight line, so use a ruler. In stories and nursery rhymes («There was a crooked man») it paints a strange or bent shape; it can also mean a cheating villain. Phrases: «a crooked smile», «crooked teeth», «hanging crooked».
examples
- No; His children's is the blemish; a generation crooked and perverse. (Torah DEU.32.5, JPS 1917) tree →
- Who are crooked in their ways, and perverse in their paths; (Writings PRO.2.15, JPS 1917) tree →
- He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone, He hath made my paths crooked. (Writings LAM.3.9, JPS 1917) tree →
- That which is crooked cannot be made straight; and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. (Writings ECC.1.15, JPS 1917) tree →
- The picture is hanging crooked on the wall. tree →
- Use a ruler so your lines are not crooked. tree →
- He has a crooked tooth at the front. tree →
- She gave a crooked smile. tree →
- The path was narrow and crooked. tree →
- The crooked shopkeeper sold fake watches. tree →
- There was a crooked man who walked a crooked mile. tree →
- And look, this one is quite crooked! tree →
note
Pronounced with two syllables, «crook-ed», not like «looked». The verb «crook» (to bend a finger) is rare; «crook» as a noun means a criminal. Opposite: «straight». In geometry a straight line has no bends; a crooked path is longer than the straight line between the same two points.
In the corpora
- No; His children's is the blemish; a generation crooked and perverse.
- With the pure Thou dost show myself pure; and with the crooked Thou dost show Thyself subtle.
- With the pure Thou dost show Thyself pure; and with the crooked Thou dost show Thyself subtle.
- I will set no base thing before mine eyes; I hate the doing of things crooked; it shall not cleave unto me.
- But as for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the LORD will lead them away with the workers of iniquity.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «crooked» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.