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cuckoo

[koo-koo, kook-oo] / ˈku ku, ˈkʊk u /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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My favorite depictions of this city know its real history is too cuckoo to capture sincerely; straight reenactments make the production of 35mm masterpieces look as piddly as Shrinky Dinks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

"Switzerland has nurtured many unexpected good things -- Albert Einstein's physics, the world economy, and the cuckoo clock leap to mind -- and is again helping the world appreciate improbable people and ideas."

From Barron's ● Mar. 10, 2026

At Kris Kringl, a downtown shop where “it’s Christmas all year long,” one can find Christmas villages, Christmas-themed cuckoo clocks, Christmas-themed cookie jars, Christmas-themed table runners, “Deck the Halls” tea kettles and much more.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025

I have lived, Jhabvala said, like “a cuckoo forever insinuating myself into others’ nests.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025

At the center, where a cuckoo bird would live in a more traditional timepiece, is the juggler.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

Among the more poignant moments, Charles laments the loss of wildlife at Highgrove, noting when he first moved in there nearly five decades ago he would hear cuckoos and see grasshoppers.

From Barron's ● Jan. 28, 2026

These efforts have helped protect a refuge for birds including willow flycatchers and yellow-billed cuckoos.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2024

If, for example, there are many sparrowhawk-like cuckoos or many sparrowhawks, the host birds learn over time to distinguish whether the bird in front of them is a sparrowhawk or a cuckoo.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024

Pigeons, meanwhile, which were originally thought to be cousins with flamingos, belong to an entirely different branch and actually bear a much stronger genetic resemblance to cuckoos.

From Science Magazine ● Mar. 31, 2024

I snap the book shut and as if on cue, several cuckoos appear from intricately carved wooden clocks, announcing the hour half past.

From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

She said she was cuckooed for months, and became "a prisoner in my own home".

From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026

When the BBC visited the London properties with the Met police, officers said squalid conditions were the norm when it comes to cuckooed premises.

From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026

During the week of action, 904 of these "cuckooed" homes were visited by law enforcement, and 1,138 vulnerable people were safeguarded, including 573 children.

From BBC ● May 26, 2021

When William Butler Yeats paid his first visit to that high priestess of occultism, Madame Blavatsky, the lady's pet cuckoo came out of a broken Swiss clock and cuckooed at him.

From Time Magazine Archive

It was certainly stopped, for the weights were off and lying upon the ground, and yet as I stood there the cuckoo came out and cuckooed at me.

From Four Years by W. B. (William Butler) Yeats

However, figures shared exclusively with the BBC show 1,539 incidents of cuckooing were reported to police in London between May 2025 and April 2026.

From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026

Sgt Elise Wilson, who works closely with organisations like Positive Steps, said it was just one way cuckooing can be uncovered.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2024

He added that cuckooing was a "horrendous practice" that the force was "determined to crack down on".

From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2022

Mr Hopkins said these people will often find a place where they can stay in the targeted town, including taking over another person's property - a practice known as "cuckooing".

From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2018

Jim: Why do you keep cuckooing “cannot, cannot”?

From Krindlesyke by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson




Vocabulary lists containing cuckoo


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