GUILE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does guile mean? 

• GUILE (noun)
  The noun GUILE has 3 senses:

1. shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception

2. the quality of being crafty

3. the use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them)

  Familiarity information: GUILE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GUILE (noun)

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 ("guile" is a kind of...):

astuteness; perspicaciousness; perspicacity; shrewdness (intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings))

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quality of being crafty

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

craftiness; deceitfulness; guile

Hypernyms ("guile" is a kind of...):

disingenuousness (the quality of being disingenuous and lacking candor)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

chicane; chicanery; guile; shenanigan; trickery; wile

Hypernyms ("guile" is a kind of...):

deceit; deception; dissembling; dissimulation (the act of deceiving)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "guile"):

dupery; fraud; fraudulence; hoax; humbug; put-on (something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage)

jugglery (artful trickery designed to achieve an end)

 Context examples 

Her mild eyes seemed incapable of any severity or guile, and yet she has committed a murder.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Skiff Miller looked at her sharply, seeking in her face the guile her words had led him to suspect.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

She did not attribute guile to any.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

We were all disposed to wonder, but it seems to have been the merciful appointment of Providence that the heart which knew no guile should not suffer.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)