“It's crooked. It's tilting to the right.”
Your husband is hanging a new picture on the wall of your new apartment. You say this because the picture doesn't look straight.
It's crooked. It's tilting to the right.
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(something) is crooked
The word "crooked" means "not straight". Specifically, people use the word "crooked" to talk about things that are:
- supposed to be straight, but are leaning to one side instead:
- bending in different directions with different angles:
Your tie is crooked.
They followed a crooked path through the woods.
Things that are bent smoothly, like a rope, aren't usually called "crooked". Things like that are called "curving" or "winding".
(something) is tilting to (a direction)
The word "tilting" also means "not straight". But "tilting" refers to things which are not going straight up-and-down, or not flat across the top. Here are some examples of things that can "tilt":
- a table
- a chair
- a tree
- a building which has gone through an earthquake