1
as in cunning
skill in achieving one's ends through indirect, subtle, or underhanded means
admired the politician's wiliness, but questioned his ethics
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in deception
the inclination or practice of misleading others through lies or trickery
her reputation for Machiavellian wiliness made people disinclined to trust her
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wiliness
Noun
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Federico Marchetti, the Italian fashion entrepreneur, is a master of sprezzatura—the courtier’s art of cloaking ambition and cunning in an air of guileless nonchalance.—
John Seabrook,
New Yorker,
29 Sep. 2025 -
But Israeli cunning, buoyed by remarkable intelligence capabilities and precision targeting, has damaged the group.—
Sean Durns,
The Washington Examiner,
26 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Neither Eliot nor Jules suspected anything, and the ease of the deception added to its pleasing sordidness.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
21 Oct. 2025
-
On October 14, those flights revealed missile sites under construction, confirming that Soviet promises had been deliberate deception.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
20 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Of course, the retort is that this would be irritating and exasperating to be continually deluged with alerts about AI deceptiveness.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
24 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Over the course of eight episodes, the show traces how mounting pressures, deceit and betrayal led to Alex murdering Maggie and Paul in 2021.—
Samantha Stutsman,
PEOPLE,
18 Oct. 2025
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The phone call ignited a shocking chain of events that ultimately uncovered Murdaugh’s long history of lies and deceit, culminating in him murdering his wife and son.—
Julia Bonavita,
FOXNews.com,
18 Oct. 2025
Noun
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As investigators dig deeper, more disturbing secrets emerge, including financial fraud, addiction, mysterious deaths and corruption.—
Samantha Stutsman,
PEOPLE,
18 Oct. 2025
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Western Alliance also is alleging fraud in its bad loans.—
Kevin Stankiewicz,Matthew J. Belvedere,
CNBC,
17 Oct. 2025
Noun
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These defendants, which include former professional athletes, used high-tech cheating technology to steal millions of dollars from victims in underground poker games that were secretly fixed.—
Anna Lazarus Caplan,
PEOPLE,
23 Oct. 2025
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Naroditsky, whose cause of death has not been made public, had vigorously denied cheating, and other chess champions agreed the claims were baseless.—
Julia Prodis Sulek,
Mercury News,
23 Oct. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Wiliness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wiliness. Accessed 25 Oct. 2025.
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