A curious English wordSourced
United States · English meaning
Crooked things and imaginary creatures
In American colloquial English, catawampus can mean crooked or out of alignment. As a noun, it can also name a fierce imaginary creature. The dictionary keeps an everyday description and a fanciful beast under the same spelling.
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Summary / translation: Unbubly · CC BY-SA 4.0
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catawampus · Wikimedia contributors
Adapted, summarized and translated from the source. Adapted text is also available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Reviewed: 2026-10-09