About The Word Cunning
Learn about the word Cunning to help solve your crossword puzzle. Discover Cunning definitions and meaning, origins, synonyms, related terms and more at the free Crossword Dictionary.
Cunning
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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