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 One of the more memorable instances finds Cole grabbing an open padlock off a door and using it to belt an opponent across the face before hooking the shackle into the dude’s mouth and using it to rip open his cheek. — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 21 Aug. 2026 The toys have cross-generational appeal, as well, hooking kids, teens, adults and the collector market. — Matt Donnelly, Variety, 14 Aug. 2026 Gamers have been hooking these things up to old SSDs and installing Linux on them, and the performance is pretty solid. — Jon Martindale, PC Magazine, 14 Aug. 2026 Guides tailor each day around conditions and what’s running, with trips that might involve swinging flies from a gravel bar, wading a gin-clear tributary, or floating miles of river in hopes of hooking a chrome-bright or rainbow-hued fish. — Bailey Berg, Travel + Leisure, 1 Aug. 2026 In the 1950s, people were hooking mammoth groupers, marine goliaths that could be six feet in length. — Literary Hub, 15 July 2026 As the arrows on the chart indicate, the red line (sellers) is hooking down and the green line (buyers) is hooking up. — Nishant Pant, CNBC, 7 July 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 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hooking
  1. bending
  2. connecting
  3. stealing
  4. grabbing
  5. curving
  6. arching
  7. integrating
  8. swiping
Verb
  • South Korean girl group has garnered an international audience for live energy and genre-bending music.
    — Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Built to last Integrating live electricity into moving, bending plastic is tricky.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of bending
Verb
  • Moving between Paris and Belo Horizonte, the film explores grief, migration, Black identity and the invisible ties connecting women across generations.
    — Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Lacking modern long-distance communication, Romans relished any opportunity for connecting with each other in person, even in the restroom.
    — Andrew Coletti, Popular Science, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of connecting
Verb
  • Moments before, with Wells still at the plate and the Yankees leading 7-1, Flemming and color analyst Will Middlebrooks vented about Chisholm stealing second base and third base during the at-bat.
    — Brendan Kuty, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2026
  • After spending 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread, Jean Valjean is being released a hardened man.
    — Leo Barraclough, Variety, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of stealing
Verb
  • Two men bought tickets to enter Vienna's Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) before smashing a display case, grabbing a 200-carat platinum and diamond necklace and walking away, police said Friday.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 28 Aug. 2026
  • In the commercial, Good Good co-founder Garrett Clark rushes over to his golf bag and pushes over golfer Alexis Miestowski to keep her from grabbing the Quantum Driver.
    — Andrew Greif, NBC news, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of grabbing
Verb
  • Here, nothing comparable to a ball is physically curving through space.
    — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 30 Aug. 2026
  • Its flowing, inward-curving shape wraps around a 30-foot central tower, forming a space where people can come together to reflect, remember, and gather.
    — Jim Dobson, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of curving
Verb
  • In the opposite direction, open the elbows wide, arching the back and lifting the chin to the sky.
    — Angelica Stabile, FOXNews.com, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Keeping your thighs aligned, bend one knee and bring your heel toward your buttocks without arching your back.
    — RikkiLynn Shields Hannigan, HEALTH, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of arching
Verb
  • MacDonald and editor Phil Hignett have a keen, witty sense of how the online realm crashes offline living, seamlessly integrating deadly-accurate TikTok parodies into the film’s breezy narrative flow.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 26 Aug. 2026
  • By integrating waypoint tracking with an obstacle-avoidance cost, the robot could detour around an obstacle while continuing toward its destination.
    — Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of integrating
Verb
  • This isn’t like, say, opening a cabinet or swiping a bag of gummy bears from a table.
    — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 24 Aug. 2026
  • Before swiping, gently check whether anything feels loose or moves unexpectedly.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 24 Aug. 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 1 Sep. 2026.

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