cunning
28
4.5
- noun
- /ˈkʌnɪŋ/
:
astucia
- We offer a contest of cunning and agility.
- mythical cunning
- political cunning
- low cunning
They would maintain themselves by force of will and cunning.
- They would maintain themselves by force of will and cunning.
- Knowing that nearly his entire court was against him, Emperor Wu displayed Immaculate cunning.
- You were just using cunning and you know, just like normal people do, like normal people do.
Examples
-
We will need all our cunning To bring them to heel.
-
Survival here requires strength, cunning and adaptation.
-
Why are some countries very good at cunning and special operations and others not?
-
This requires cunning and deception.
-
This will bring out the guards and at that point we will use our cunning to overpower them.
-
We must plan my escape, and I'm relying on your expedience and cunning.
-
Due to his persistence, cunning and some plain old luck, Judea Maccabeus was victorious once more.
-
To succeed in the competition, you will need a bit of cunning to outsmart your opponents.
-
Her cunning plan to win the game surprised everyone and proved she was the smartest among us.
-
In politics, a leader's cunning can often determine the fate of their campaign.
Synonyms
27
4.9
To use dishonest ways to cheat people
24
7.5
Skill in getting what you want by tricking people
11
7.8
Clever but dishonest way of acting that tricks people
2
6.5
Trying to make other people believe something that is not true
2
7.0
Secret actions that are dishonest or unfair to get what you want
2
6.3
Skill in judging people or situations and using it to gain advantage
1
5.8
A clever use of tricks to get what you want from others
1
6.0
Doing things quietly to trick people without them noticing
1
8.2
Skill at tricking people to get what you want
1
7.9
Clever ways of getting what you want by tricking people
1
6.2
A quality of being clever and secretly using tricks to get what you want
Being clever at getting what you want by tricking others
Being clever and able to trick people
Being clever in a dishonest or deceptive way that is hard to guess
A clever and dishonest way of tricking people
Antonyms
Compounds
How Cunning
Surface Forms
Etymology
Cunning as a noun also comes from the old root cunnan meaning 'to know' and first meant 'skill' or 'knowledge'. It later became the name for the particular skill of outsmarting or deceiving people. So when you talk about someone's cunning, you mean their clever, sometimes dishonest, ability.