Choose the Right Synonym for cunning

Adjective

clever, adroit, cunning, ingenious mean having or showing practical wit or skill in contriving. clever stresses physical or mental quickness, deftness, or great aptitude. a person clever with horses adroit often implies a skillful use of expedients to achieve one's purpose in spite of difficulties. an adroit negotiator cunning implies great skill in constructing or creating. a filmmaker cunning in his use of special effects ingenious suggests the power of inventing or discovering a new way of accomplishing something. an ingenious software engineer

sly, cunning, crafty, wily, tricky, foxy, artful, slick mean attaining or seeking to attain one's ends by guileful or devious means. sly implies furtiveness, lack of candor, and skill in concealing one's aims and methods. a sly corporate raider cunning suggests the inventive use of sometimes limited intelligence in overreaching or circumventing. the cunning fox avoided the trap crafty implies cleverness and subtlety of method. a crafty lefthander wily implies skill and deception in maneuvering. the wily fugitive escaped the posse tricky is more likely to suggest shiftiness and unreliability than skill in deception and maneuvering. a tricky political operative foxy implies a shrewd and wary craftiness usually involving devious dealing. a foxy publicity man planting stories artful implies indirectness in dealing and often connotes sophistication or cleverness. elicited the information by artful questioning slick emphasizes smoothness and guile. slick operators selling time-sharing

Noun

art, skill, cunning, artifice, craft mean the faculty of executing well what one has devised. art implies a personal, unanalyzable creative power. the art of choosing the right word skill stresses technical knowledge and proficiency. the skill of a glassblower cunning suggests ingenuity and subtlety in devising, inventing, or executing. a mystery plotted with great cunning artifice suggests technical skill especially in imitating things in nature. believed realism in film could be achieved only by artifice craft may imply expertness in workmanship. the craft of a master goldsmith

Examples of cunning in a Sentence

Adjective … this cat has made his way into the Fitness Center for cunning reasons of his own and reveals himself only to certain privileged individuals. — Joyce Carol Oates, Harper's, June 2008 Throughout his time hunting the vampire, Manolito had been wounded and poisoned on many occasions, but still he'd survived because he'd always used his brain. He was cunning and shrewd and very intelligent. — Christine Feehan, Dark Possession, 2007 I have recounted the advice I received from an old-timer about how to keep raccoons out of garbage cans—advice that eventually included the purchase of a combination lock. ("A raccoon's cunning, but he's got no head for figures.") — Calvin Trillin, New Yorker, 11 Oct. 1993 A cunning politician is often found skulking under the clerical robe, with an outside all religion, and an inside all political rancour. — Washington Irving, A History of New York, 1809, in History, Tales and Sketches, (1977) 1983 So the Leader went into his den and looked at his children—two very cunning little cubs, lying on the floor. — Hugh Lofting, The Story of Doctor Dolittle, 1920 She was cunning enough to fool me. a cunning, underhanded plan to win the election by preying on people's fears and prejudices Noun The writing is best in the play's later scenes, when More deploys his legal cunning to help him weasel out of a political trap set by the oleaginous Thomas Cromwell … — John Lahr, New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2008 Tsvetaeva was lacking, moreover, in any instinct for cunning or self-preservation, or even for what might be called mere getting along … — Claudia Roth Pierpont, New Yorker, 7 Feb. 1994 He could see no change, save that in the eyes there was a look of cunning and in the mouth the curved wrinkle of the hypocrite. — Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891 He may be a fraud, but you have to admire his cunning. the cunning with which Tom Sawyer was able to get others to whitewash the fence for him

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective This video from Periyar Tiger Reserve in southern India, is full of suspense as the tiger ascends the tree and draws closer to its intended prey, but the monkey proves to be a cunning foe. — Matt Delong, Star Tribune, "TALKERS011121," 11 Jan. 2021 Praised for his cunning plots, psychological complexity and flawed, many-faceted characters, Mr. le Carré also showed a deft hand for misdirection. — Matt Schudel, Washington Post, "John le Carré, who lifted the spy novel to literature, dies at 89," 13 Dec. 2020 Scientists haven’t yet been able to develop an effective AIDS vaccine, partly because HIV is one of the most cunning, complex pathogens ever encountered. — Betsy Mckay, WSJ, "How HIV Research Laid the Foundation for Covid Vaccines," 24 Dec. 2020 Then suddenly, with a bloodcurdling roar the cunning beast made another rush at me—a ruse to betray me into action. — Field & Stream, "F&S Classics: Mauled by a Grizzly," 12 Dec. 2020 Considering that a new class of graduates will arrive, Harper will have to be even more cunning to avoid the possibility of a newcomer with similar gumption jeopardizing her place at the company. — Reana Johnson, refinery29.com, "Harper’s Shocking Industry Finale Decision Isn’t Really All That Shocking," 4 Dec. 2020 During World War II, another perfect storm led to Japanese internment: Editors at newspapers like the Los Angeles Times voiced their support for the policy, while war propaganda depicted Asians as crafty and cunning. — Getty Images, National Geographic, "America’s long history of scapegoating its Asian citizens," 2 Sep. 2020 Prosecutors portrayed Waller as an organized and cunning criminal who stalked potential victims and collected information about their appearance, movements and vehicles. — Danielle Wallace, Fox News, "Former UC Berkeley employee nicknamed 'NorCal Rapist' convicted in string of attacks," 20 Nov. 2020 Cape buffaloes have been excitement and danger, cunning and willing to ambush and kill you until their last death bellow. — Bob Brister, Field & Stream, "F&S Classics: The Elephants of Chirisa," 12 Nov. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun But Hirst still found ways to showcase Ragnar’s exceptional cunning and fortitude by showing that the devious Viking orchestrated his own death to spur his sons into uniting together to seek revenge. — Sadie Gennis, Vulture, "Vikings’ Most Memorable Deaths, As Chosen by Its Creator," 11 Jan. 2021 Maradona was the platonic ideal of a pibe, all virtuoso skill and impetuous cunning. — Rory Smith, New York Times, "The Most Human of Immortals," 25 Nov. 2020 Coyotes long have been associated with cunning and trickery, especially in American Indian folklore. — René A. Guzman, ExpressNews.com, "Coyote sightings common at San Antonio Spurs games and, increasingly, in the wild," 24 Nov. 2020 Long before the 2020 election, Trump was also celebrated in rap music as a folk hero, as a symbol of manly power and entrepreneurial cunning. — Stephanie Muravchik, Fortune, "Why Trump made gains among minority men against Biden," 6 Nov. 2020 And, with the cunning that comes from millennia of evolution, the virus exploits all of our most human habits. — Anchorage Daily News, "The code: How genetic science helped expose a secret coronavirus outbreak," 24 Sep. 2020 And, with the cunning that comes from millennia of evolution, the virus exploits all of our most human habits. — Washington Post, "The outbreak," 24 Sep. 2020 Facebook’s artificial intelligence researchers have a plan to make algorithms smarter by exposing them to human cunning. — Tom Simonite, Wired, "Go Ahead, Try to Sneak Bad Words Past AI Filters—for Research," 24 Sep. 2020 The gameplay rewards cunning and deception with the freedom to pass more than once behind the line of scrimmage and misdirect opponents. — Gieson Cacho, Star Tribune, "Sloppiness mars improvements in 'Madden NFL 21'," 9 Sep. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cunning.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.