Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
×

Thesaurus

cunning

adjective

Synonyms and Antonyms of cunning

1 clever at attaining one's ends by indirect and often deceptive means
  • a cunning, underhanded plan to win the election by preying on people's fears and prejudices
Synonyms of cunning

artful, beguiling, cagey (also cagy), crafty, cute, designing, devious, foxy, guileful, scheming, shrewd, slick, sly, subtle, tricky, wily
Words Related to cunning

astute, facile, glib, sharp

crooked, deceitful, deceptive, dishonest, fraudulent, insinuating, knavish, Machiavellian, oblique, serpentine, shady, shifty, slippery, sneaky, treacherous, underhand, underhanded, unscrupulous

backhanded, double-dealing, hypocritical, insincere, left-handed, mealy, mealymouthed, smooth-tongued, two-faced

circuitous, circular, roundabout

clandestine, concealed, covert, furtive, hugger-mugger, secret, stealthy, surreptitious, undercover

calculating, plotting
Near Antonyms of cunning

obvious, open, patent, plain, public, unconcealed

aboveboard, candid, direct, forthright, frank, honest, natural, outspoken, plainspoken, real, simple, sincere, straightforward, unaffected, unpretending, unpretentious, unvarnished

childlike, impressionable, simpleminded, unsophisticated, unworldly

unforced, unstudied

trustful, trusting
Antonyms of cunning

artless, guileless, ingenuous, innocent, undesigning
2 skillful with the hands
  • Only the most cunning cabinetmaker could have crafted such a beautifully proportioned chest of drawers.
Synonyms of cunning

clever, deft, dexterous (also dextrous), handy
Words Related to cunning

agile, flexible, graceful, limber, lissome (also lissom), lithe, lithesome, nimble, spry

coordinated

able, adept, capable, competent, expert, masterful, masterly, proficient, qualified, skilled, skillful, sure-handed

double-jointed, loose-jointed
Near Antonyms of cunning

awkward, bungling, clumsy, fumbling, gauche, gawky, graceless, klutzy, rough-hewn, stiff, stilted, uncomfortable, uneasy, ungainly, ungraceful, wooden

uncoordinated

incapable, incompetent, inept, inexpert, maladroit
Antonyms of cunning

butterfingered, ham-fisted, ham-handed, handless, heavy-handed, unhandy

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

cunning

noun

Synonyms and Antonyms of cunning

1 skill in achieving one's ends through indirect, subtle, or underhanded means
  • the cunning with which Tom Sawyer was able to get others to whitewash the fence for him
Synonyms of cunning

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

calculation, care, design

savvy, sharpness, shrewdness

cleverness, ingeniousness, ingenuity, inventiveness

ease, facility, finesse

deceitfulness, duplicity, shiftiness, underhandedness
2 subtle or imaginative ability in inventing, devising, or executing something
  • the unmatched cunning of the scout who led them safely through the trackless wilderness
Synonyms of cunning

adeptness, adroitness, art, artfulness, artifice, artistry, cleverness, craft, deftness, masterfulness, skill, skillfulness
Words Related to cunning

dexterity, ease, finesse, handiness

experience, expertise, expertness, know-how, proficiency

creativity, ingenuity, inventiveness, knowledge, learning

aptitude, bent, flair, gift, knack, talent
Near Antonyms of cunning

awkwardness, clumsiness, klutziness

inability, inadequacy, inadequateness, incapability, incapacity, incompetence, ineffectiveness, ineffectuality, ineffectualness, inefficacy, inefficiency
Antonyms of cunning

artlessness, ineptitude, ineptness, maladroitness
3 the inclination or practice of misleading others through lies or trickery
  • used cunning and subterfuge to work her way up the corporate ladder
Synonyms of cunning

artifice, cheating, cozenage, craft, craftiness, crookedness, crookery, cunningness, deceit, deceitfulness, deception, deceptiveness, dishonesty, dissembling, dissimulation, double-dealing, dupery, duplicity, fakery, foxiness, fraud, guile, guilefulness, wiliness
Words Related to cunning

equivocation, lying, mendacity, prevarication

chicane, chicanery, fraudulence, hanky-panky, skulduggery (or skullduggery), subterfuge, swindling, trickery, wile

falsehood, falsity, fib, untruth

hypocrisy, insincerity, sanctimoniousness, two-facedness

artfulness, caginess (also cageyness), deviousness, shrewdness

treacherousness, underhandedness, unscrupulousness

covertness, furtiveness, secrecy, shadiness, sneakiness, stealthiness

oiliness, shiftiness, slickness, slipperiness, slyness, smoothness
Near Antonyms of cunning

candidness, candor, directness, frankness, openness, plainness, plainspokenness

honesty, probity

dependability, reliability, reliableness, solidity, trustability, trustiness, trustworthiness

decency, goodness, incorruptibility, integrity, righteousness, truthfulness, uprightness, virtuousness
Antonyms of cunning

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

Synonym Discussion of cunning

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

Learn More about cunning

  1. See words that rhyme with cunning Dictionary: Definition of cunning Spanish Central: Translation of cunning Nglish: Translation of cunning for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of cunning for Arabic speakers

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up cunning? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show hide

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Words at Play

Ask the Editors

Word Games