mook

¹ American  

[mook] / muk /

noun

Slang.

1. a contemptible, incompetent person.

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mook ² American  

[mook] / mʊk /

noun

1. a book with the look, design, and layout of a magazine, usually having a Japanese anime theme.

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mook British  

/ muːk /

noun

1. slang a person regarded with contempt, esp a stupid person

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Etymology

Origin of mook¹

First recorded in 1930–35; of uncertain origin, perhaps a variant of moke ( def. )

Origin of mook²

m(agazine) ( def. ) + (b)ook ( def. )

Example Sentences

They’ve looked like a mook army jacked up on videogames—not tough, just macho.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 29, 2026

Assi is a bit of a bully, Salam is a bit of a mook, and the film doesn’t force them into a too-easy friendship.

From New York Times • Aug. 1, 2019

It’s actually an earthy, funny, often melancholy slice of life, with John Travolta giving one of his best performances as a working-class Brooklyn mook who turns into an artist on the dance floor.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2017

“I turned on Wall Street for the same reason everybody else did: The American taxpayer was forced to cut mook deals to bail out guys who didn’t deserve it,” he said in the interview.

From Washington Post • Nov. 19, 2016

A passer-by asked them where the bishop was, and they said they hadn't got mook enough to mak' a beeshop.

From Lighter Moments from the Notebook of Bishop Walsham How by How, Frederick Douglas