Meaning & use
kook
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Meanings
nouncountableinformaldisapproving
A person whose odd ideas or behavior make others consider them eccentric or a little crazy.
Grammar: Can sound insulting; usually used about someone else.
Patterns
- a kook about something
Our neighbor is a kook who talks to his tomatoes.
People called him a kook for believing the moon landing was staged.
She is a harmless kook with a house full of parrots.
nouncountableslang
In surfing slang, a beginner who lacks skill or does not know the rules of the water.
Grammar: Surfers' slang, often unkind: a total kook.
The kook dropped in on three surfers in a row.
Everyone laughed at the kook falling off his board.
She was embarrassed to be taken for a kook at her first lesson.
Word forms
| plural | kooks |
|---|
Common combinations
- a harmless kook
- He seemed like a harmless kook with odd hobbies.
- a total kook
- They thought she was a total kook.
- conspiracy kook
- Every town seems to have a conspiracy kook.
- call someone a kook
- Don't call him a kook just because he likes unusual things.
- a surf kook
- A surf kook paddled straight into the best wave.
Synonyms and how they differ
- eccentric
- Eccentric is neutral or even fond, while kook is more dismissive.
- crank
- A crank pushes a strange belief stubbornly, whereas a kook may simply be odd in general.
- weirdo
- Weirdo is more insulting and focuses on being strange, not on peculiar ideas.
- nut
- Nut is another casual word for an odd person, and can sound harsher.
Word family
- kooky adjective
- odd or eccentric in an amusing way
- kookiness noun
- the quality of being odd
- kookily adverb
- in an odd, offbeat way
Commonly confused: kook or cook?
kook vs cook
Cook is someone who prepares food; kook is a slang word for an odd person, though they sound identical in speech.
Practice
Which sentence uses kook correctly?
Choose one answer.
Kook means an eccentric person, which fits the neighbors' reaction. The other sentences confuse it with cook.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “kook”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.