guile

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noun \ˈgī(-ə)l\

: the use of clever and usually dishonest methods to achieve something

Full Definition of GUILE

1

:  deceitful cunning :  duplicity

2

obsolete :  stratagem, trick

— guile·ful \-fəl\ adjective

— guile·ful·ly \-fə-lē\ adverb

— guile·ful·ness noun

One goose, two geese. One moose,
two... moose. What's up with that? »

Examples of GUILE

1. <a shady salesman who usually relies on a combination of quick thinking and guile>
2. <a person so full of guile he can't even be trusted to give you the correct time of day>
3. By the end of Liebling's dispatch, Mollie has become a mythic figure invulnerable to death, capable of great feats of courage and guile, and able to transform himself into any human type for the purposes of disguise. —Lee Siegel, Harper's, December 2004
4. The going was painfully slow, but Chickenhound consoled himself on the long journey by boosting his own ego. “Maybe a silly bunch of rats could put one over on Sela. Huh, she was old and had lost a lot of her guile. Not like me! They hadn't reckoned with a smart intelligent young fox like I am.” —Brian Jacques, Redwall, (1986) 2002
5. Untrained human nature was not frank and innocent; it was full of the twists and defences of an instinctive guile. —Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, 1920

Origin of GUILE

Middle English gile, from Anglo-French, probably of Germanic origin; akin to Old English wigle divination — more at witch

First Known Use: 13th century

Related to GUILE

Synonyms

artfulness, artifice, caginess (also cageyness), canniness, craft, craftiness, cunningness, deviousness, foxiness, cunning, guilefulness, slickness, slyness, sneakiness, subtleness, subtlety, wiliness

Antonyms

artlessness, forthrightness, good faith, guilelessness, ingenuousness, sincerity

Related Words

calculation, care, design; savvy, sharpness, shrewdness; cleverness, ingeniousness, ingenuity, inventiveness; ease, facility, finesse; deceitfulness, duplicity, shiftiness, underhandedness

Near Antonyms

candidness, candor, directness, frankness, openness, plainness, plainspokenness; honesty, probity; dependability, reliability, reliableness, solidity, trustability, trustiness, trustworthiness; decency, goodness, incorruptibility, integrity, righteousness, truthfulness, uprightness, virtuousness

Rhymes with GUILE

dial, file, isle, pile, smile, spile, stile, style, tile, trial, while, wile