EN

Synonyms for wily

  • adjective

Most common

cunning sly crafty shrewd

All synonyms

Adjective

1. Cunning — sly, cunning, full of tricks

cunning, sly, crafty, shrewd, foxy, tricky, tricksy, astute, devious, artful, sneaky, scheming, treacherous, wise, deceitful, snaky, slick, insidious, dodgy informal, guileful, fraudulent, slim ZA

Antonyms

naive, simple, guileless

All antonyms of wily →

Definitions

  1. adj. 1

    Sly, cunning, full of tricks.

    Horatio's new girlfriend is a wily coquette, and poor Horatio is too smitten to see it.

Related words

Is a kind of
deceitful intelligent

Example sentences

  • cunning Tuaregs have a reputation for bravery and cunning.
  • sly She looked at me with a sly smile on her face.
  • crafty Crafty is the Lord, but malicious He is not.
  • shrewd I know that Tom is a very shrewd businessman.

Popularity over time

Word1850 → 2019Trend
wilyrising
cunningrising
slyrising
craftyrising
shrewdsteady

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters
sly1
4 letters
wise1, slim1, foxy2
5 letters
slick1, dodgy, snaky
6 letters
tricky2, sneaky2, crafty2, shrewd1, astute2, artful2
7 letters
cunning2, devious3, tricksy
8 letters
scheming2, guileful
9 letters
insidious4, deceitful3
10 letters
fraudulent3
11 letters
treacherous3

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (foxy2 = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français
roublard
Español
artero
Deutsch
trickreich