TRICKY (trickier, trickiest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: trickier    , trickiest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tricky mean? 

• TRICKY (adjective)
  The adjective TRICKY has 3 senses:

1. not to be trusted

2. having concealed difficulty

3. marked by skill in deception

  Familiarity information: TRICKY used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TRICKY (adjective)

Comparative: trickier   
Superlative: trickiest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not to be trusted

Synonyms:

slippery; tricky

Context example:

how extraordinarily slippery a liar the camera is

Similar:

untrustworthy; untrusty (not worthy of trust or belief)

Derivation:

trickiness (the quality of being a slippery rascal)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Having concealed difficulty

Synonyms:

catchy; tricky

Context example:

a tricky recipe to follow

Similar:

difficult; hard (not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure)

Derivation:

trickiness (the quality of requiring skill or caution)

Sense 3

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)

Derivation:

trick (a cunning or deceitful action or device)

trickiness (the quality of being a slippery rascal)

 Context examples 

"Yankees are a deal the most tricky, everybody knows. There you go!" returned Fred, croqueting her ball far away.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

You may be looking for a new position and finding the process tricky.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

It strikes me as dull, and stupid, and mercenary, and tricky.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing,” answered Holmes thoughtfully.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For a month he was in and out of my house, and never once did it cross my mind that harm might come of his soft, tricky ways.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This relationship is tricky in ocean sediments, though, because carbon 14 is created in the atmosphere, and it takes time for the carbon to make its way through the ocean.

(A new study is the first to measure the time lags between changing ocean currents and major climate shifts., University of Cambridge)

Tackling the problem is tricky for various reasons: for example, victims are often in remote areas and need treatment fast; health workers cannot easily identify the culprit with certainty; and anti-venom treatments are expensive.

(Snakebite resolution set for Health Assembly approval, SciDev.Net)

The methods we use in the laboratory are very different of those used, for example, by the Police, which uses the so‑called strategic interviewing (with questionnaires including ‘tricky’ questions and demanding a lot of details) to try and catch a liar.

(The most reliable scientific model to date for detecting when a person is lying, based on thermography, University of Granada)

Zapata also made one landing on a boat mid-channel to refill the kerosene fuel in his backpack, a process Zapata described as being tricky because the boat could not be kept still in the moving waters of the Channel.

(French inventor Franky Zapata successfully crosses English Channel on jet-powered hoverboard, Wikinews)

Blame Mars in Libra, a tricky, challenging place for Mars to be when opposite your Sun.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)