Language crook oddly avoided a lot (6)
I believe the answer is:
romany
'language' is the definition.
(Romany is an example)
'crook oddly avoided a lot' is the wordplay.
'oddly avoided' indicates alternate letters (letters in odd-numbered positions removed).
'a lot' becomes 'many' (many means a lot).
The alternate letters of 'crook' are 'ro'.
'ro'+'many'='ROMANY'
(Other definitions for romany that I've seen before include "Language of gypsies" , "Gypsy language" , "Roy, man, you're a gypsy" , "one of those travelling" , "Traveller" .)