knavery
2
9.9
- noun
- /ˈneɪvəri/
- Archaic
:
deshonestidad
- Horror stories about the greed and knavery of early printers and publishers are not difficult to find.
Examples
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His constant knavery in business dealings led to a loss of trust with his clients.
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All you think about is your tricks and your knavery, but you don't pull any wool over these old eyes.
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First, earmarking power brings personal corruption to elected office by making incumbents almost impossible to replace, even when their corruption and/or general knavery becomes well known.
Blog text (13) -
But the farmers carry it on incessantly, without challenge or reprisal, and the only thing that keeps them from reducing us, at intervals, to actual famine is their own imbecile knavery.
Blog text (34) -
The detective uncovered a web of knavery that implicated several high-ranking officials.
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The novel explores themes of knavery and deception in a corrupt society.
Synonyms
46
3.2
Actions like lying, cheating, or stealing
8
8.6
Secret or dishonest actions that try to cheat people
6
9.9
Dishonest actions that try to trick people to get something
1
6.9
Dishonest behavior by a person or group
Actions that cheat people to get their money
A habit of ignoring right and wrong and being dishonest to get what you want
Unfair or dishonest behavior that hurts other people
Antonyms
How Dishonest
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word knavery comes from knave, which long ago meant 'boy' or 'servant' and later became a name for a 'dishonest' or 'tricky' person. So knavery is the bad, cheating or stealing behaviour you would expect from a knave, and you may also see knave used as the old name for the 'jack' in a card deck.