What is another word for cunning?

Synonyms for cunning
ˈkʌn ɪŋcun·ning

This thesaurus page includes all potential synonyms, words with the same meaning and similar terms for the word cunning.

English Synonyms and Antonyms5.0 / 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.

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

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

Princeton's WordNet4.2 / 6 votes

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

    shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception

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

    Antonyms:
    unattractive, artless, maladroit

  2. cunningadjective

    crafty artfulness (especially in deception)

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

    Antonyms:
    maladroit, unattractive, artless

  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"

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

    Antonyms:
    artless, unattractive, maladroit

  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"

    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

    Antonyms:
    unattractive, maladroit, artless

  5. clever, cunning, ingeniousadjective

    showing inventiveness and skill

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

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

    Antonyms:
    unattractive, maladroit, artless

Matched Categories

Dictionary of English Synonymes4.3 / 4 votes

  1. cunningadjective

    Synonyms:
    crafty, artful, sly, astute, subtle, wily, shrewd, sharp, designing, intriguing, deceitful, TRICKY, crooked, diplomatic, machiavelian

  2. cunningnoun

    Synonyms:
    craft, art, shrewdness, artifice, deceit, duplicity, subtlety, intrigue

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated Words0.0 / 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

PPDB, the paraphrase database4.0 / 1 vote

  1. List of paraphrases for "cunning":

    ruse, crafty, shrewd, astute, wily, clever, sly, trick, sneaky, foxy, smart, devious, subtle

How to pronounce cunning?

How to say cunning in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency

rankingword
#338art
#718trade
#1634device
#2207smart
#3996cute
#4241craft
#4246blind
#4480fraud
#4535pat
#4626dodge
#6230cheat
#6395precious
#7155invention
#7167trick
#8742apt
#9840subtle
#10247clever
#14579sleek
#15835slick
#15928tricky
#18828slippery
#18996silky
#21715devious
#23231workmanship
#23246sly
#23550maneuver
#24397catchy
#24723craftsmanship
#25806crafty
#25925guile
#26623cunning
#27214glib
#27566foxy
#28297ingenious
#29532sneaky
#34018astute
#35918finesse
#36528dodgy
#43818ruse
#44318shrewd
#45134artifice
#47302silken
#48777wily
#56510trickery
#63007wile
#63841chicane
#65400canny
#75645dicey
#79016subterfuge
#87541contrivance
#98243stratagem
#108569satiny
#125789chicanery
#125956cagey
#155798craftiness
#157118chancy
#183563imposture
#211784deceitfulness
#286612machination

How to use cunning in a sentence?

  1. Metastasio:

    He who devises evil for another falls at last into his own pit, and the most cunning finds himself caught by what he had prepared for another. But virtue without guile, erect like the lofty palm, rises with greater vigour when it is oppressed.

  2. Emily Thornberry:

    We need to be absolutely sure that we are not going to end up in a situation where the general election is used as a distraction whilst they (the government) by some cunning wheeze bounce us out of the European Union without a deal.

  3. Donald Trump:

    I would like to see someone that's very tough and that can negotiate with the Democrats, and I don't know that he's that person, we need somebody that's a very, very tough, smart, cunning person. I don't know that that's him, and obviously this statement hurt him pretty badly in the eyes of some, unfortunately.

  4. Nic Cheeseman:

    Kenyatta has pulled the classic divide-and-rule move of the cunning president, creating as many potential alliances as possible in order to avoid empowering any one successor, this will help him to manage Gideon Moi, William Ruto and others with their own presidential ambitions.

  5. 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.


Translations for cunning

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

  • изкусен, коварен, лукав, сръчност, сръчен, лукавство, коварство, умениеBulgarian
  • murri, astutCatalan, Valencian
  • geschickt, gewandt, schlau, Gerissenheit, listig, gerissenGerman
  • ruzaEsperanto
  • astutoSpanish
  • مکار, حیله گری, رندPersian
  • taitava, kierous, kiero, taitavuus, ovela, oveluusFinnish
  • sournoiserie, fourberie, rusé, talentueuxFrench
  • glicIrish
  • seòltaScottish Gaelic
  • csalafinta, cseles, alattomos, ravasz, ügyes, dörzsöltHungarian
  • խորամանկArmenian
  • furberia, astuto, furbo, ingegnoso, furbiziaItalian
  • עַרמוּמִיHebrew
  • 狡猾, 巧妙Japanese
  • 교활한Korean
  • callidusLatin
  • geslepen, bedreven, list en bedrog, handig, doortrapt, sluwheid, leep, sluw, kundigheidDutch
  • snedighetNorwegian
  • sprytnyPolish
  • astuto, espertoPortuguese
  • priceput, viclean, șiret, capacitate, viclenieRomanian
  • хитрый, искусный, коварный, искусство, хитрость, пронырливый, умение, ловкий, лукавый, дошлый, коварство, умелыйRussian
  • chytrý, mazaný, prefíkanýSlovak
  • listig, slug, slughet, listSwedish
  • కపటము, నేర్పరి, తరహాTelugu
  • ฉลาดแกมโกงThai
  • хитрийUkrainian
  • khéo léoVietnamese

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Translation

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"cunning." Synonyms.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.synonyms.com/synonym/cunning>.

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