sleight

[ slahyt ]

noun

1. skill; dexterity.
2. an artifice; stratagem.
3. cunning; craft.

sleight

/ slaɪt /

noun

1. skill; dexterity See also sleight of hand
2. a trick or stratagem
3. cunning; trickery

Word History and Origins

Origin of sleight¹

1225–75; Middle English; early Middle English slēgth < Old Norse slǣgth. See sly, -th ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of sleight¹

C14: from Old Norse slægth, from slægr sly

Example Sentences

In Zehme’s depiction, Carson’s public persona was a deception, a sleight of hand befitting a man who started as a magician and never lost his love for it.

From Los Angeles Times

Companies use a kind of mathematical sleight of hand called mass balance to inflate the recycledness of their most lucrative products by taking credit for the recycled content of other, less lucrative products.

From Salon

A key requirement: The content must be determined “by weight,” effectively forbidding the mathematical sleight of hand.

From Salon

“Maybe for a second I was like, ‘Oh, Jay-Z is here?,’” she said, before realizing it had been a theatrical sleight of hand.

From New York Times

Conventional antibiotics often falter -- the bacteria's uncharacteristically thick and impermeable cell envelope, as well as a shrewd evolutionary sleight of hand, have made the pathogens especially resistant towards common treatments.

From Science Daily

More About Sleight

What does sleight mean?

Sleight means skill, especially with one’s hands (dexterity).

It can also mean trickery or cunning, or a specific trick or scheme.

Sleight is by far most commonly used in the phrase sleight of hand, whose meanings are very similar to those of sleight: manual dexterity, general trickery, or a trick performed with quick and skillful hand movements.

Sleight and sleight of hand are especially associated with coin and card tricks that require such hand movements. They’re also associated with deceptive ways of stealing, such as pickpocketing.

Sleight should not be confused with the word slight, which has the same pronunciation. As an adjective, slight means small or insignificant. As a noun, it commonly means the act of treating someone with indifference or snubbing them.

Example: The illusionist spent years perfecting his sleight so that it was undetectable even at close range.

Where does sleight come from?

The first records of sleight come from the 1200s. It comes from Old Norse slægth, from slægr, which means “sly” and originally had the meaning of “able to strike” or “able to slay.” In fact, the English words sly and slay are related to the same root.

Sleight can mean trickery, as in It takes great sleight to deceive me. It can also refer to a trick, as in Old magicians rarely see a sleight they haven’t seen before. Sleight is rarely used outside of its appearance in sleight of hand. When it’s used in sleight of hand, it means skill or nimbleness. But sleight of hand is frequently used in more figurative ways to criticize actions or words as deceptive, as in His comment is a clever sleight of hand intended to distract us from the real issue. It can also be used to compare something to a magic trick, as in Her literary sleight of hand is dazzling.

Did you know ... ?

What are some synonyms for sleight?

• legerdemain
• craft
• trick
• stratagem
• trickery
• cunning
• deception

What are some words that share a root or word element with sleight? 

• sleight of hand
• sly
• slay

What are some words that often get used in discussing sleight?

• hand
• dexterity
• magic
• magician
• illusion
• performance

What are some words sleight may be commonly confused with?

• slight

How is sleight used in real life?

Sleight most commonly used in the phrase sleight of hand.

Jay Dodd’s “For Magicians Who Die On Stage,” is, simply, a gift. They write about sleight and deception and alcoholism and disappearing bodies and the spectacular: https://t.co/X9maVStUGY

— roxane gay (@rgay) September 6, 2019

Propaganda and brain washing work like sleight of hand magic: Point away from the important issue to distract and on details that don’t matter.

— Yaneer Bar-Yam (@yaneerbaryam) June 3, 2020

Few car chases top the wrong-way highway chase in William Friedkin’s ‘To Live and Die in L.A.’ Here’s how they shot the iconic chase scene using hydraulic car-rigs, visual sleight-of-hand, and 900 (!) cars. https://t.co/9G2O29NROf

— One Perfect Shot (@OnePerfectShot) July 25, 2020

 

 

Try using sleight!

Is sleight used correctly in the following sentence?

I took it as a sleight when my contribution to the project was not acknowledged.