hooking

verb

present participle of hook
1
as in bending
to cause to turn away from a straight line the pitcher hooked the ball, and the batter missed

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2
as in connecting
to put or bring together so as to form a new and longer whole hooked up three short chains together to make a longer necklace

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3
as in stealing
to take (something) without right and with an intent to keep the monkey hooked four bananas from the basket and scampered away to enjoy them

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4
as in grabbing
to take physical control or possession of (something) suddenly or forcibly I hooked the biggest fish of the day, and then released it

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5
as in curving
to turn away from a straight line or course hang the bird feeder on a branch that hooks upward

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of hooking However, the episode ends with a fisherman hooking an unknown big catch in the very lake where the billionaire's body lies. — Emily Blackwood, PEOPLE, 5 June 2026 The closest thing in effort required is hooking the robot when it’s done, emptying out its filter basket and putting it back on the charger. — Brad Moon, Forbes.com, 31 May 2026 Still, there are challenges ahead, especially relating to the bureaucratic obstacles of building large energy projects and hooking them up to the grid. — Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 23 June 2026 Devon Toews was called for a hooking penalty, giving Minnesota 63 seconds of 4-on-3 power-play time. — Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 10 May 2026 In the video, Jessie, who is wearing a blue bikini, puts one foot on her husband's thigh and the other on his shoulder, hooking it around his neck, and stands up steadily while flashing her arm muscles at the camera. — Lori A Bashian, FOXNews.com, 31 May 2026 While hooking paying customers remains a challenge for most of the AI industry, Grok stands out as a particularly terrible performer. — Joe Wilkins, Futurism, 14 May 2026 An example of the previously undisclosed debauchery includes a pair female twins allegedly hooking themselves up to a car battery for $10,000. — Derek Lawrence, Entertainment Weekly, 23 June 2026 After referees called Wembanyama on a foul on Karl-Anthony Towns, a review determined that Towns had been the one to commit a foul, an offensive foul, by hooking Wembanyama with his arm. — Andrew Greif, NBC news, 11 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hooking
  1. bending
  2. connecting
  3. stealing
  4. grabbing
  5. curving
  6. arching
  7. integrating
  8. swiping
Verb
  • Leandro Trossard got the assist, bending a perfect back-post cross from the end line to his waiting teammate.
    — Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2026
  • For much of her decades-long career, Madonna has been known as not only a genre-bending talent and headline-grabber, but also a certified hitmaker.
    — Hugh McIntyre, Forbes.com, 5 July 2026
Definition of bending
Verb
  • Organizers also have transformed portions of Figueroa Street into a festival corridor connecting the venues.
    — City News Service, Daily News, 2 July 2026
  • The integrated workflow is intended to reduce the need for separate software tools by connecting chip design with evaluation board development in one process.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 2 July 2026
Definition of connecting
Verb
  • Peterson left office in 2017 after pleading guilty to stealing from his own campaign fund.
    — Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 7 July 2026
  • He’s accused of stealing $3 million from the client’s Northern Trust account involving about 200 transactions over a decade until he was fired from the private wealth-management bank in fall 2024.
    — Jay Weaver, Miami Herald, 6 July 2026
Definition of stealing
Verb
  • Americans are grabbing their passports and fleeing the country in hopes of leaving the nation’s problems behind.
    — Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 2 July 2026
  • Swanson argues those behind-the-scenes improvements have done more to modernize logistics than many of the industry’s headline-grabbing automation projects.
    — Glenn Taylor, Footwear News, 2 July 2026
Definition of grabbing
Verb
  • His update on the C-cut began just below the chin, with extra lift at the roots and inward-curving lengths that narrowed toward the ends to create the illusion of a heart.
    — Maggie Clancy, Footwear News, 3 July 2026
  • Nusa scored a beautiful goal after curving a shot into the top right corner, just past the arms of Fofana to give Norway a 1-0 lead.
    — Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 30 June 2026
Definition of curving
Verb
  • Pay Attention to Plant Form Plants come in a wide range of shapes, from arching to columnar to spreading.
    — Luke Miller, Better Homes & Gardens, 29 June 2026
  • Lower back discomfort or tightness might be due to arching of your back, or your back muscles tacking on too much of the work to overcompensate for a lack of hip strength or control.
    — Christa Sgobba, Health, 16 June 2026
Definition of arching
Verb
  • And the work ahead, such as integrating new brands, scaling existing ones and building toward our larger vision for Bridges, gets to happen on top of something durable.
    — John Speranza, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026
  • Google is integrating Gemini into its browser and powering Apple’s Siri intelligence.
    — Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 30 June 2026
Definition of integrating
Verb
  • The company has been working on AI matchmaking and plans to ditch swiping in the last three months of the year in select markets.
    — Queenie Wong, Los Angeles Times, 28 June 2026
  • It’s formulated with hyaluronic acid, one of the most hydrating ingredients, and aloe water, so swiping it on is like refreshing your complexion with a cool glass of water.
    — Irene Richardson, InStyle, 28 June 2026
Definition of swiping

Browse Nearby Words

hookers
hooking
hooking up
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Cite this Entry

“Hooking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hooking. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of hooking for Spanish Speakers

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