insidiousness

noun

as in underhandedness

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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 insidiousness Thankfully, Leviticus has a good grasp on how to leverage this conceit for scares and to score points about the insidiousness of mistaking hatred for salvation. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 17 June 2026 Without ever using the words, this House of the Dragon season evokes all-too-real fears about police funding, abridgment of freedom of speech and the insidiousness of theocratic rule. — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 15 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for insidiousness
  1. hypocrisy
  2. slyness
  3. perfidy
  4. duplicity
  5. trickery
  6. deception
  7. slipperiness
  8. smoothness
Noun
  • These poems used images from ordinary life to warn against greed, religious hypocrisy and an excessive attachment to worldly possessions.
    — Peter Dziedzic, The Conversation, 30 July 2026
  • No interest in the contradictions, the hypocrisy, the inappropriate media friendships, the dishonesty about lockdowns, the lab leak, or masks.
    — Ian Miller OutKick, FOXNews.com, 28 July 2026
Definition of hypocrisy
Noun
  • The harp is not an instrument of slyness, wryness, or the earth.
    — Emma Madden, Pitchfork, 28 Apr. 2026
  • Like the tricksters of myth, there’s depth to their slyness.
    — Big Think, Big Think, 5 Feb. 2026
Definition of slyness
Noun
  • Platner, indeed, has boiled down nearly all political problems to the perfidy of sinister oligarchs.
    — Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 6 July 2026
  • If the landing had been faked, the Soviets would have figured it out and would have loved to reveal to the world America’s perfidy.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 May 2026
Definition of perfidy
Noun
  • This latest act of duplicity is a new low, even for the HFPA.
    — Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 28 July 2026
  • The detective-heroines (and especially the actress-detectives) in this canon are careful about how performance might be extended to social duplicity, dishonesty, and fraud—but the lady criminals of Victorian detective fiction cross this line easily.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 24 July 2026
Definition of duplicity
Noun
  • Football is all about engaño (trickery) — looking one way and passing the other, feinting to go left and swiftly moving right, manipulating the opposition and tricking them to open up those little spaces.
    — Xavi, New York Times, 19 July 2026
  • Marc Cucurella and Pedro Porro have stretched defenses from the flanks, while Lamine Yamal has confused them with his trickery.
    — Jibin Joseph, PC Magazine, 18 July 2026
Definition of trickery
Noun
  • Yes, a bit of deception has long been standard in listing photos — a wide lens, a bit of color saturation to make a viewless window appear brighter — but the tools today are more sophisticated, cheaper, and pretty ubiquitous.
    — Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 21 July 2026
  • Nolan reinvents him as a naive young soldier left outside the horse to sell Odysseus’ deception.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 21 July 2026
Definition of deception
Noun
  • Cerúndolo went out in the first round at Wimbledon, and analyst Gill Gross suggested that the slipperiness of the grass may have been a factor.
    — Charlie Eccleshare, New York Times, 3 July 2026
  • In the following chapters of Quand j’étais photographe, Nadar plays on the rhetorical and material slipperiness of invention to craft a curious portrait of photography’s first fifty-odd years.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 27 Apr. 2026
Definition of slipperiness
Noun
  • Its particular appeal lies in the combination of effortless power, exceptional smoothness and a very distinctive level of refinement.
    — Morgan Korn, ABC News, 25 July 2026
  • Golden has first-round NFL draft capital, with terrific speed and the smoothness to match.
    — Jake Ciely, New York Times, 22 July 2026
Definition of smoothness

Browse Nearby Words

insidiously
insidiousness
insight
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Cite this Entry

“Insidiousness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/insidiousness. Accessed 1 Aug. 2026.

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