'Cunning' definitions:
Definition of 'cunning'
(from WordNet)
adjective
Attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness; "a cute kid with pigtails"; "a cute little apartment"; "cunning kittens"; "a cunning baby" [syn: cunning, cute]
adjective
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" [syn: crafty, cunning, dodgy, foxy, guileful, knavish, slick, sly, tricksy, tricky, wily]
adjective
Showing inventiveness and skill; "a clever gadget"; "the cunning maneuvers leading to his success"; "an ingenious solution to the problem" [syn: clever, cunning, ingenious]
noun
Shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception [syn: craft, craftiness, cunning, foxiness, guile, slyness, wiliness]
noun
Crafty artfulness (especially in deception)
Definition of 'Cunning'
From: GCIDE
- Cunning \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. [1913 Webster]
- "Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- Esau was a cunning hunter. --Gen xxv. 27. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Wrought with, or exhibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious; curious; as, cunning work. [1913 Webster]
- Over them Arachne high did lift
- Her cunning web. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
- 3. Crafty; sly; artful; designing; deceitful. [1913 Webster]
- They are resolved to be cunning; let others run the hazard of being sincere. --South. [1913 Webster]
- 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. A cunning 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. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Cunning'
From: GCIDE
- Cunning \Cun"ning\, n. [AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi knowledge. See Cunning, a.]
- 1. Knowledge; art; skill; dexterity. [Archaic] [1913 Webster]
- Let my right hand forget her cunning. --Ps. cxxxvii. 5. [1913 Webster]
- A carpenter's desert Stands more in cunning than in power. --Chapman. [1913 Webster]
- 2. The faculty or act of using stratagem to accomplish a purpose; fraudulent skill or dexterity; deceit; craft. [1913 Webster]
- Discourage cunning in a child; cunning is the ape of wisdom. --Locke. [1913 Webster]
- We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'cunning'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- 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,
- double-minded,
- double-tongued,
- doublehearted,
- doubleness,
- doubleness of heart,
- duplicitous,
- duplicity,
- efficiency,
- excellent,
- expert,
- expertise,
- expertness,
- facility,
- faithless,
- faithlessness,
- false,
- false-principled,
- falsehearted,
- falseheartedness,
- falseness,
- 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