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hook

hook

149 3.4
Something that attracts people, often to make them pay attention
  • noun
  • /hʊk/
translation icon : gancho
  • To write a successful article, you need a captivating hook to draw in your audience.
  • create a hook
  • provide a hook
  • serve as a hook

Meaning the lyrics, the hook, the beat.

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Examples

  • Phones are ringing off the hook.

  • We had not made some necessary connection, a hook into a deeper intimacy, and this failure perplexed us.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • It's got a great hook on the end of the first episode.

  • And this song is just hook after hook after hook.

  • We were not looking for just a hook to bring teens in; we wanted a vibrant learning space.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Obviously you need a really strong hook that's going to stop them, right?

  • The phone's been ringing off the hook.

  • The phones are ringing off the hook with people screaming to be let back into the city.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Chapter 7, titled "Getting Started: Setting the Narrative Hook," contains advice for all novelists, not just mystery writers.

    Academic text (2009)
  • The rationalization plotline serves primarily as a hook on which to hang the enemy theme.

    Academic text (2017)

Synonyms

bait
vshook
170 3.4

Something that attracts people by offering a reward or advantage

aims to draw attention or interest rather than provoke action
lure
vshook
29 4.3

A quality that tempts people by promising a reward

focuses on attracting interest or attention rather than offering reward
come-on
vshook
  • NSFW
12 7.4

Something meant to attract someone, like a compliment or an ad

is a general enticement that draws interest rather than a directed tactic
grabber
vshook
  • Literature
4 3.8

Something that quickly gets people's attention, like a headline

is a broader enticement used beyond quick media moments
sweetener
vshook
2 5.4

Something added to an offer to make someone more likely to accept, for example a bonus

focuses on attracting attention rather than adding extra incentive to offers
catchy hook
vshook
3.5

An opening line or idea that quickly gets people's attention

is used more generally not only for openings in media

Idioms

off the hook
  • Informal
105 5.9

No longer in trouble or responsible for something

on the hook
  • Informal
26 7.7

Responsible for paying or doing something, often unwillingly

off the hook
  • Slang
14 8.2

Very exciting and impressive

1 8.1

Using any way to get something done no matter what it takes

9.9

Leave a place quickly because you are not welcome

9.9

To leave quickly because people do not want you there

Compounds

A set of hooks on a rope used to catch and hold things like a wall or ship

3 4.8

A strong pointed hook for hanging dead animals in a butcher shop

hook shot
  • Specialized
3 3.6

A basketball shot made by sweeping the arm and releasing the ball high with the hand farthest from the basket

1 3.2

A needle with a small hook at one end used to pull yarn through loops to make fabric

1 3.6

A small metal piece with a hook that fits into a loop to hold clothes closed

A wooden block attached to a bench that holds wood steady while you cut or shape it

3.9

A long pole with a hook used to push, pull, or catch things near boats

bolus hook
  • Specialized
9.9

A small part in a Jacquard loom that lifts warp threads to make patterns

cant hook
  • Specialized
9.8

A long handle with a metal hook used to move and turn logs

A short easy to remember musical phrase that repeats in a song

An opening line or idea that quickly gets people's attention

3.5

A small metal hook that you screw under a shelf to hang cups by the handles

9.9

A strong metal bar with a sharp point that you use to move logs

An earring that fits over the edge of the ear without needing a piercing

arrester hook
  • Specialized
9.9

A device on a plane that catches a wire on a carrier deck to stop the plane quickly during landing

7.7

A metal rod with a handle used to move burning logs or stir hot embers

A cape and town on the southwest coast of the Netherlands that has a ferry port

7.6

A tool with a hooked end that turns round nuts with notches

hook wrench
  • Specialized
6.4

A tool with a hooked end for turning round nuts or bolt heads without flat sides

A person with a long curved nose like a bird's beak

A tool with a long handle and a curved blade used to cut small tree branches and shrubs

9.8

A hand tool with a curved blade and short handle for cutting grass or crops

reaping hook
  • Archaic
8.3

A small hand tool with a curved blade and short handle for cutting wheat and grass

How Catchy

eye-catcher
1 4.1
hook
149 3.4
bait
170 3.4
teaser
  • Literature
18 4.1
lead-in
  • Literature
9 4.9

Surface Forms

hook singular
hooks plural

Etymology

Hook for an attention-grabber comes from the idea of a fishing hook that 'catches' a fish, so a story or ad 'hooks' people by catching their interest.