| English Dictionary |
CUNNING
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Dictionary entry overview: What does cunning mean?
• CUNNING (noun)
The noun CUNNING has 2 senses:
1. shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
2. crafty artfulness (especially in deception)
Familiarity information: CUNNING used as a noun is rare.
• CUNNING (adjective)
The adjective CUNNING has 3 senses:
1. attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness
2. marked by skill in deception
3. showing inventiveness and skill
Familiarity information: CUNNING used as an adjective is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Synonyms:
craft; craftiness; cunning; foxiness; guile; slyness; wiliness
Hypernyms ("cunning" is a kind of...):
astuteness; perspicaciousness; perspicacity; shrewdness (intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings))
Sense 2
Meaning:
Crafty artfulness (especially in deception)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("cunning" is a kind of...):
artfulness (the quality of being adroit in taking unfair advantage)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness
Synonyms:
cunning; cute
Context example:
a cunning baby
Similar:
attractive (pleasing to the eye or mind especially through beauty or charm)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Marked by skill in deception
Synonyms:
crafty; cunning; dodgy; foxy; guileful; knavish; slick; sly; tricksy; tricky; wily
Context example:
a wily old attorney
Similar:
artful (marked by skill in achieving a desired end especially with cunning or craft)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Showing inventiveness and skill
Synonyms:
Context example:
an ingenious solution to the problem
Similar:
adroit (quick or skillful or adept in action or thought)
Context examples
Whatever bears affinity to cunning is despicable.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
The other, clad in a dirty russet suit with a long sweeping doublet, had a cunning, foxy face with keen, twinkling eyes and a peaky beard.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He suddenly stopped and the old cunning look spread over his face, like a wind-sweep on the surface of the water.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
And he was cunning, for he took the ship to where the sea sucks in to the land and the waves beat white on the mountain called Romanoff.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
They are afraid of this Ghost Dog, for it has cunning greater than they, stealing from their camps in fierce winters, robbing their traps, slaying their dogs, and defying their bravest hunters.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
It may be profitable to you to reflect, in future, that there never were greed and cunning in the world yet, that did not do too much, and overreach themselves.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to find the man himself.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He became immensely wary, for he was wise with knowledge of the low cunning and foul vileness of his kind.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
But the landlady had the pertinacity and also the cunning of her sex.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
But the wicked creature was very cunning, and she finally thought of a trick that would give her what she wanted.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"Once you are tired, you still can go far" (Breton proverb)
"A wise man associating with the vicious becomes an idiot; a dog traveling with good men becomes a rational being." (Arabic proverb)
"The word goes out but the message is lost." (Corsican proverb)