GUILEFUL Synonyms: 125 Similar and Opposite Words

guileful

adjective

Definition of guileful

as in cunning

clever at attaining one's ends by indirect and often deceptive means tried to fix the game with a guileful plot to sabotage the other team's bats, but the umpire caught them

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in deceptive

given to or marked by cheating and deception received a guileful answer when I asked the dealer if the used car had ever been in a collision

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of guileful Bruno Guimaraes and Lucas Paqueta played guileful defence-splitting passes. — James Horncastle, New York Times, 20 June 2026 One is to emphasize Iago—the guileful, insinuating convincingness of this malicious supervillain, who works on Othello to the point where any reasonable man would be deceived and fooled and worked into a rage that can lead to such a catastrophe. — David Frum, The Atlantic, 17 June 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for guileful

Adjective

But the heart of this story is the toxic years-long romance between Marjorie and her co-conspirator Bill Rothstein (David Harbour), an equally cunning player who was blinded by love.

— Glenn Garner, Deadline, 14 Sep. 2026
Supporters of the administration view this back and forth as a cunning ploy to buy time for the United States to position itself more advantageously for a confrontation.

— Leonard A. Schuette, Foreign Affairs, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of cunning

Adjective

López’s attorney sent Rivas and her group a cease-and-desist letter last month, citing trademark infringement and deceptive and unfair trade practices, the letter shows.

— Sofia Saric, Miami Herald, 9 Sep. 2026
The technology was also tested against deceptive behaviour, an in a different scenario, fishing boats appeared to retreat while vessels from another direction accelerated toward the coastguard ship.

— Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 30 Aug. 2026

Definition of deceptive

Adjective

Style this maxi skirt with a dressy blouse, tights, and tall boots for a cute date night ensemble, or dress it down with a sweater and sneakers for more low-key days.

— Mia Huelsbeck, PEOPLE, 5 Sep. 2026
Everyone was amazed that, yes, this teeny tiny thing was actually a functioning camera that could take relatively good pictures, and not just a cute, decorative keychain.

— Jamie Spain, Condé Nast Traveler, 5 Sep. 2026

Definition of cute

Adjective

Scammers paste a new code overlapping the restaurant’s code and direct customers to a fraudulent payment system.

— ABC News, ABC News, 10 Sep. 2026
The pair allegedly turned in the fraudulent petitions to several petition coordinators, in order to receive payments from a petition management company.

— Brittny Mejia, Los Angeles Times, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of fraudulent

Adjective

Although Craven’s touch is missing, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett honor his memory by mimicking his style while engraving their own slick mark.

— Michael Lee Simpson, Entertainment Weekly, 5 Sep. 2026
In some memes in recent weeks, the photo has become so over-edited that the character's glistening face is slicker, darker and even more uncanny.

— Owen Carry, USA Today, 5 Sep. 2026

Definition of slick

Adjective

The series contemplates topics like shady lending practices by financial institutions — something that will resonate deeply with today’s economy — and the ethics of placing oneself in a news story.

— Maira Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 1 Sep. 2026
Meanwhile, Melanie’s sister, Steph, begged Melanie to leave Sincere because of his compulsive lying and shady behavior.

— Allison DeGrushe, StyleCaster, 1 Sep. 2026

Definition of shady

Adjective

Here, she’s matured as a well-rounded comedienne who can pull the stops for subtle approaches to laughs, and though the mugging is still evident, it’s only used for propitious moments.

— Hank Grant, HollywoodReporter, 11 Sep. 2026
Comey’s nods to Drexler are mostly subtle, drawing from the artist’s color palette of vibrant hues from bright green and orange to cobalt blue and lilac, with an eye toward their high-contrast juxtapositions, a hallmark of Drexler’s paintings.

— Maximilíano Durón, ARTnews.com, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of subtle

Adjective

An incoming generation, simply by their existence, dislodged a crooked anxiety that the new face of Asian America is Wasian.

— E. Alex Jung, Vulture, 8 Sep. 2026
Under Mitchell, Pecora showed, the nation’s largest bank had become an impeccably groomed racketeering enterprise, dressing up crooked enterprises as gilt-edged to sell their bonds and stocks to unsuspecting buyers.

— Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 7 Sep. 2026

Definition of crooked

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guile

guileful

guilefulness

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“Guileful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/guileful. Accessed 17 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of guileful

adjective

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