About The Word Cunning
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Cunning
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Cunning Definition And Meaning |
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What's The Definition Of Cunning?
[n] drafty artfulness (especially in deception)
[n] shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception [n] shrewdness in deception; "as cunning as a fox" [adj] showing inventiveness and skill; "a clever gadget"; "the cunning maneuvers leading to his success"; "an ingenious solution to the problem" [adj] marked by skill in deception; "cunning men often pass for wise"; "deep political machinations"; "a foxy scheme"; "a slick evasive answer"; "sly as a fox"; "tricky Dick"; "a wily old attorney" [adj] attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness; "a cute kid with pigtails"; "a cute little apartment"; "cunning kittens"; "a cunning baby" Synonyms | Synonyms for Cunning: adroit | artful | attractive | clever | craft | craftiness | crafty | cute | dodgy | foxiness | foxy | guile | guileful | ingenious | knavish | slick | sly | slyness | tricksy | tricky | wiliness | wily Related Terms | Find terms related to Cunning: ability | acute | address | adept | adeptness | adroit | adroitness | agility | airmanship | ambidexterity | ambidextrous | animal cunning | apt | arch | art | artful | artfulness | artifice | artisanship | artistic | artistry | astute | authoritative | bad faith | bravura | brilliance | brilliant | Byzantine | cagey | cageyness | calculating | canniness | canny | capability | capacity | chiseling | clean | clever | cleverness | collusive | command | competence | control | coordinated | coordination | covinous | crack | crackerjack | craft | craftiness | craftsmanship | crafty | crooked | cunning | cunningness | cute | daedal | Daedalian | dainty | deceit | deceitful | deceitfulness | deep | deep-laid | deft | deftness | delicate | designing | devious | deviousness | dexterity | dexterous | dexterousness | dextrous | dextrousness | diplomacy | diplomatic | dishonest | dishonesty | dissemblance | dissimulation | double | double-dealing | double-faced | doublehearted | double-minded | doubleness | doubleness of heart | double-tongued | duplicitous | duplicity | efficiency | excellent | expert | expertise | expertness | facility | faithless | faithlessness | false | falsehearted | falseheartedness | falseness | false-principled | fancy | feline | finagling | finesse | foxiness | foxy | fraudulent | furtive | furtiveness | good | goodish | grace | graceful | grip | guile | guileful | guilefulness | handiness | handy | horsemanship | hypocrisy | improbity | indirect | indirection | ingenious | ingeniousness | ingenuity | insidious | insidiousness | inventive | keen | know-how | knowing | low cunning | Machiavellian | Machiavellianism | Machiavellic | magisterial | marksmanship | masterful | masterly | mastership | mastery | mignon | neat | no mean | pawkiness | pawky | perfidious | politic | practical ability | professional | proficiency | proficient | prowess | quick | quickness | quite some | readiness | ready | resource | resourceful | resourcefulness | satanic cunning | savoir-faire | savvy | scheming | seamanship | serpentine | sharp | sharpness | shiftiness | shifty | shrewd | shrewdness | skill | skillful | skillfulness | slick | slickness | slim | slippery | sly | slyness | smart | smooth | snaky | sneak attack | sneakiness | sneaky | some | sophistical | statesmanlike | stealthy | strategic | style | stylish | subtile | subtility | subtilty | subtle | subtlety | supple | surreptitious | surreptitiousness | tact | tactful | tactfulness | tactical | technical brilliance | technical mastery | technical skill | technique | the compleat | the complete | timing | treacherous | treacherousness | treachery | trickiness | trickish | tricksy | tricky | two-faced | two-facedness | underhand | underhanded | underhandedness | virtuosity | virtuoso | vulpine | wary | well-considered | well-contrived | well-designed | well-devised | well-done | well-invented | well-laid | well-planned | well-reasoned | well-thought-out | well-weighed | wile | wiliness | wily | wit | wizardry | workmanlike | workmanship See Also | artfulness | astuteness | perspicaciousness | perspicacity | shrewdness Cunning In Webster's Dictionary \Cun"ning\ (k[u^]n"n[i^]ng), a. [AS. cunnan to know, to
be able. See 1st {Con}, {Can}.]
1. Knowing; skillful; dexterous. ``A cunning workman.'' --
Ex. xxxviii. 23.
``Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white
Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on. --Shak.
Esau was a cunning hunter. --Gen xxv. 27.
2. Wrought with, or exhibiting, skill or ingenuity;
ingenious; curious; as, cunning work.
Over them Arachne high did lift
Her cunning web. --Spenser.
3. Crafty; sly; artful; designing; deceitful.
They are resolved to be cunning; let others run the
hazard of being sincere. --South.
4. Pretty or pleasing; as, a cunning little boy. [Colloq.
U.S.] --Barlett.
Syn: {Cunning}, {Artful}, {Sly}, {Wily}, {Crafty}.
Usage: These epithets agree in expressing an aptitude for
attaining some end by peculiar and secret means.
Cunning is usually low; as, a cunning trick. Artful is
more ingenious and inventive; as, an artful device.
Sly implies a turn for what is double or concealed;
as, sly humor; a sly evasion. Crafty denotes a talent
for dexterously deceiving; as, a crafty manager. Wily
describes a talent for the use of stratagems; as, a
wily politician. ``Acunning man often shows his
dexterity in simply concealing. An artful man goes
further, and exerts his ingenuity in misleading. A
crafty man mingles cunning with art, and so shapes his
actions as to lull suspicions. The young may be
cunning, but the experienced only can be crafty.
Slyness is a vulgar kind of cunning; the sly man goes
cautiously and silently to work. Wiliness is a species
of cunning or craft applicable only to cases of attack
and defense.'' --Crabb.
\Cun"ning\, n. [AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi knowledge. See {Cunning}, a.] 1. Knowledge; art; skill; dexterity. [Archaic] Let my right hand forget her cunning. --Ps. cxxxvii. 5. A carpenter's desert Stands more in cunning than in power. --Chapman. 2. The faculty or act of using stratagem to accomplish a purpose; fraudulent skill or dexterity; deceit; craft. Discourage cunning in a child; cunning is the ape of wisdom. --Locke. We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom. --Bacon. |
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