Antonyms for cunning
ˈkʌn ɪŋcun·ning

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. cunning

   A contrivance or device may be either good or bad. A cheat is a mean advantage in a bargain; a fraud, any form of covert robbery or injury. Imposture is a deceitful contrivance for securing charity, credit, or consideration. A stratagem or maneuver may be of the good against the bad, as it were a skilful movement of war. A wile is usually but not necessarily evil.

   E'en children followed with endearing wile.

   Goldsmith Deserted Village, l. 184.

   A trick is often low, injurious, and malicious; we say a mean trick; the word is sometimes used playfully with less than its full meaning. A ruse or a blind may be quite innocent and harmless. An artifice is a carefully and delicately prepared contrivance for doing indirectly what one could not well do directly. A device is something studied out for promoting an end, as in a mechanism; the word is used of indirect action, often, but not necessarily directed to an evil, selfish, or injurious end. Finesse is especially subtle contrivance, delicate artifice, whether for good or evil. Compare FRAUD.

   Antonyms:
   artlessness, candor, fairness, frankness, guilelessness, honesty, ingenuousness, innocence, openness, simplicity, sincerity, truth

   Synonyms:
   art, artifice, blind, cheat, contrivance, craft, device, dodge, finesse, fraud, guile, imposture, invention, machination, maneuver, ruse, stratagem, subterfuge, trick, wile

Matched Categories

1. • Shrewdness

Princeton's WordNetRate these antonyms:4.2 / 6 votes

1. craft, craftiness, cunning, foxiness, guile, slyness, wilinessnoun

   shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception

   Antonyms:
   unattractive, artless, maladroit

   Synonyms:
   foxiness, chicanery, workmanship, shenanigan, slyness, craftiness, wiliness, trickery, chicane, craftsmanship, trade, craft, deceitfulness, wile, guile

2. cunningadjective

   crafty artfulness (especially in deception)

   Antonyms:
   maladroit, unattractive, artless

   Synonyms:
   guile, craftiness, foxiness, wiliness, slyness, craft

3. cunning, cuteadjective

   attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness

   "a cute kid with pigtails"; "a cute little apartment"; "cunning kittens"; "a cunning baby"

   Antonyms:
   artless, unattractive, maladroit

   Synonyms:
   tricky, dodgy, clever, knavish, ingenious, sly, cute, guileful, wily, foxy, crafty, slick, tricksy, precious

4. crafty, cunning, dodgy, foxy, guileful, knavish, slick, sly, tricksy, tricky, wilyadjective

   marked by skill in deception

   "cunning men often pass for wise"; "deep political machinations"; "a foxy scheme"; "a slick evasive answer"; "sly as a fox"; "tricky Dick"; "a wily old attorney"

   Antonyms:
   unattractive, maladroit, artless

   Synonyms:
   tricksy, slippery, silky, clever, dicey, slick, sly, cute, satiny, chancy, sleek, catchy, ingenious, chanceful, pat, crafty, silklike, wily, guileful, knavish, dodgy, silken, glib, tricky, foxy

5. clever, cunning, ingeniousadjective

   showing inventiveness and skill

   "a clever gadget"; "the cunning maneuvers leading to his success"; "an ingenious solution to the problem"

   Antonyms:
   unattractive, maladroit, artless

   Synonyms:
   tricksy, canny, clever, cagy, slick, sly, cute, cagey, wily, apt, ingenious, knavish, crafty, guileful, dodgy, tricky, foxy

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. cunningadjective

   Synonyms:
   artful, crafty, sly, wily, arch, designing, deceitful, intriguing, curious, ingenious, skillful, dexterous

2. cunningnoun

   Synonyms:
   craft, deceit, craftiness, subtlety, wiliness

How to use cunning in a sentence?

1. Christen Kuikoua:

   In the eyes of a manipulator, Love becomes a weapon—a tool wielded with cunning intent to exploit vulnerability and sow the seeds of deception.

2. Lee Bates:

   He broke out of jail before. He is a cunning individual, no question about it, and a vicious individual. he can make friends easy. He's a master manipulator.

3. Cesare Pavese:

   Literature is a defense against the attacks of life. It says to life: You can't deceive me. I know your habits, foresee and enjoy watching all your reactions, and steal your secret by involving you in cunning obstructions that halt your normal flow.

4. John Walsh:

   This is a coward, a child molester, and a brutal murderer of a woman who loved him so much, he's cunning, he's smart, a former cop, and lucky. And someday his luck's gon na run out.

5. James Joyce:

   I will tell you what I will do and what I will not do. I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it call itself my home, my fatherland, or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defense the only arms I allow myself to use --silence, exile and cunning.

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