cunning

adjective cun·ning \ ˈkə-niŋ \

|Updated on: 17 Jun 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: cunning in a Sentence

Definition of cunning

1 : dexterous or crafty in the use of special resources (such as skill or knowledge) or in attaining an end

a cunning plotter

2 : characterized by wiliness and trickery

cunning schemes

3 : prettily appealing : cute

a cunning little kitten

4 : displaying keen insight

a cunning observation

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cunningly

play \ˈkə-niŋ-lē\ adverb

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cunningness

noun

See cunning defined for English-language learners

See cunning defined for kids

Examples of cunning in a Sentence

… 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

Recent Examples of cunning from the Web

Calling in sick the day before a vacation starts is not a cunning maneuver, and seems likely to raise a suspicious manager’s eyebrow no matter what the details.

— New York Times, "Casual Office Chatter Gets a Colleague in Trouble. Now What?," 12 May 2018
Other satellites make a cunning use of gravity to estimate the snow and ice mass.

— mejs hasan, WIRED, "How Scientists Tracked Antarctica's Stunning Ice Loss," 13 June 2018
But his behavior is also perfectly consistent with a cunning ploy to find a legal path to firing the special counsel.

— jonathan chait, Daily Intelligencer, "How Trump Could Get Scott Pruitt to Fire Robert Mueller," 11 June 2018
First, there’s the cunning brevity of the chapters—a hundred and twenty-nine of them—that makes a long story zip by.

— anthony lane, The New Yorker, "Bill Clinton and James Patterson’s Concussive Collaboration," 3 June 2018
In 1975 and 1976, police in the town of Visalia were chasing a cunning burglar who took trophies from victims' homes.

— benjamin oreskes, latimes.com, "Why did it take so long to arrest the Golden State Killer suspect? Interagency rivalries, old technology, errors and bad luck," 25 May 2018
Arvind Narayanan, an assistant professor of computer science at Princeton University, last year got his students to help design a cunning blocker that could detect when Facebook ads had been designed to look like ordinary posts.

— chris baraniuk, Scientific American, "Where Will the Ad versus Ad Blocker Arms Race End?," 31 May 2018
The juxtaposition is jarring, but the character remains cunning and compelling.

— hannah giorgis, The Atlantic, "Killing Eve and the Riddle of Why Women Kill," 28 May 2018
Based on the novel by Jason Matthews, Red Sparrow tells the tale of a Russian ballerina who, after suffering a career-ending injury, becomes a seductive and cunning intelligence operative.

— pamela mcclintock, Billboard, "'Black Panther' Dazzles With $65.7M in Third Outing at Box Office," 4 Mar. 2018

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.

Origin and Etymology of cunning

Middle English, from present participle of can know

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

cunning Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of cunning

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

cunning

noun

Definition of cunning

1 : dexterous skill and subtlety (as in inventing, devising, or executing)

high-ribbed vault … with perfect cunning framed
—William Wordsworth

2 : craft, slyness

3 obsolete

a : knowledge, learning

b : magic art

See cunning defined for English-language learners

Examples of cunning in a Sentence

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 of cunning from the Web

Now in anonymous retirement, he is called upon to lend his expertise to an unusual investigation but ultimately becomes caught in a terrifying race against time to save America from a cunning terrorist.

— etan vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, "James Gray to Direct Terrorism Thriller 'I Am Pilgrim' for MGM," 16 Apr. 2018
Indeed, Trump triumphed despite having all of Cohn’s debits, wartime draft dodging included, but none of his assets — legal cunning, erudition, a sense of humor, brainpower, and loyalty.

— frank rich, Daily Intelligencer, "The Original Donald Trump," 29 Apr. 2018
From the Magazine The USA Network show that launched Markle’s career is an unpretentious tournament of wit and cunning.

— james wolcott, HWD, "Confessions of a Suits Fan: Why the Legal Drama That Launched Meghan Markle Works," 27 Apr. 2018
Villanelle’s hiding-in-plain-sight proposition is one that, for the fashion-obsessed among us, makes the cunning show all the more captivating.

— steff yotka, Vogue, "Killing Eve Is the Most Fashionable Show on TV," 27 Apr. 2018
Macbeth is a cunning and efficient SWAT commander, in love with a casino owner named Lady.

— charles finch, USA TODAY, "Jo Nesbø's modern update of 'Macbeth' is a bloody crime," 16 Apr. 2018
What there is there is some very strange things that Ari mentioned but also, Trump has a cunning or pressing suspicion that McCabe is not trustworthy.

— Fox News, "Ingraham: How to defeat the swamp's efforts to take down Trump's nominees," 19 Apr. 2018
Younger ones began their professional lives during the 1990s, when Alan Greenspan and his peers manipulated their economies with a deft rate hike here, a cunning cut there.

— The Economist, "Free exchangeCan’t hardly wait," 22 Mar. 2018
Confusing Trump’s behavior with mental illness unfairly stigmatizes those who are truly mentally ill, underestimates his considerable cunning, and misdirects our efforts at future harm reduction.

— Washington Post, "The Health 202: Mental-health professionals can't agree on evaluating Trump's psyche," 12 Jan. 2018