cunning

[kuhn-ing]

noun

1. skill employed in a shrewd or sly manner, as in deceiving; craftiness; guile.

   Synonyms: deception, intrigue, trickery

2. adeptness in performance; dexterity.

   The weaver's hand had not lost its cunning.

   Synonyms: agility, adroitness

adjective

1. showing or made with ingenuity.

   Synonyms: skillful, ingenious

2. artfully subtle or shrewd; crafty; sly.

   Synonyms: foxy, tricky, wily, artful

3. Informal.,  charmingly cute or appealing.

   a cunning little baby.

4. Archaic.,  skillful; expert.

verb

1. Obsolete.,  present participle of can.

cunning

/ ˈkʌnɪŋ /

adjective

1. crafty and shrewd, esp in deception; sly

   cunning as a fox

2. made with or showing skill or cleverness; ingenious

noun

1. craftiness, esp in deceiving; slyness

2. cleverness, skill, or ingenuity

Other Word Forms

• cunningly adverb
• cunningness noun
• overcunning adjective
• overcunningness noun
• quasi-cunning adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cunning¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; (noun) Middle English; Old English cunnung, equivalent to cunn(an) “to know” ( can ¹ ) + -ung -ing ¹; (adjective, verb) Middle English, present participle of cunnan “to know” ( can ¹, -ing ² )

Word History and Origins

Origin of cunning¹

Old English cunnende; related to cunnan to know (see _can ¹ ), cunnian to test, experience, Old Norse kunna to know

Synonym Study

Cunning, artifice, craft imply an inclination toward deceit, slyness, and trickery. Cunning implies a shrewd, often instinctive skill in concealing or disguising the real purposes of one's actions: not intelligence but a low kind of cunning. An artifice is a clever, unscrupulous ruse, used to mislead others: a successful artifice to conceal one's motives. Craft suggests underhand methods and the use of deceptive devices and tricks to attain one's ends: craft and deceitfulness in every act.

Example Sentences

After a bit of analysis comes the humor, which should be sharp but cunning, never the obvious punchline that you might see online or hear tossed out in the office kitchen.

From Salon

Georgia has emerged one of the more entertaining, cunning and inventive antiheroes of the 2020s.

From Los Angeles Times

"With US assets concentrating in the Middle East, China sees this as an opportunity to escalate... so it's a sort of cunning way for China to raise the level of attention," he said.

From BBC

But Zephyr is as worldly as Bruce is, meaning that she’s a cunning foil to his long-running string of untraceable serial murders.

From Salon

The prosecution described him as "cunning and resourceful" and said he carried dog biscuits with him.

From BBC