Synonyms for cunning
- adjective
- noun
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Wily — sly; crafty; clever in surreptitious behaviour
wily, sly, clever, shrewd, crafty, artful, astute, devious, foxy, ingenious, tricksy, adroit, canny, sneaky, skillful US, skilful UK, deceitful, tricky, wise, dexterous, dextrous UK, insidious, sharp, crooked
Other
Noun
1. Guile
guile, craftiness, shrewdness, subtlety, craft, ingenuity, deception, deceit, skill, art, duplicity, wile, artifice, wiliness, capacity, slyness, foxiness, facility, subtilty, ingeniosity, cleverness, astuteness
Definitions
- adj. 1
Sly; crafty; clever in surreptitious behaviour.
- n. 1
Practical knowledge or experience; aptitude in performance; skill, proficiency; dexterity.
Related words
- Word family
- cunningly
- Phrases
- cunning folk cunning linguist cunning linguistics
- Is a kind of
- skill
Forms
- Plural
- cunnings → guiles, craftinesses, shrewdnesses, subtleties…
Choose the right word
Astute, from the Latin, with the original sense of cunning has come to have a meaning that combines the sense of acute or keen with that of sagacious.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- clever The dog was so clever that he seemed almost human.
- sly She looked at me with a sly smile on her face.
- shrewd I know that Tom is a very shrewd businessman.
- wily He plays a wily detective with a penchant for disguises.
By length
- 3 letters
- art1, sly1
- 4 letters
- list1, cute1, wise1, foxy2, wily2, wile1
- 5 letters
- sharp1, skill1, craft1, canny2, guile1
- 6 letters
- clever2, tricky2, sneaky2, crafty2, deceit2, shrewd1, astute2, artful2, adroit2
- 7 letters
- crooked2, devious3, skilful, tricksy, slyness2, foxship
- 8 letters
- capacity4, facility4, skillful2, subtlety3, artifice3, dextrous2, wiliness, foxiness, subtilty
- 9 letters
- deception3, ingenious3, insidious4, ingenuity5, deceitful3, duplicity4, dexterous
- 10 letters
- cleverness3, shrewdness2, craftiness, astuteness3
- 11 letters
- ingeniosity
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (foxy2 = 2 syllables).