cunning

[ kuhn-ing ]

noun

1. skill employed in a shrewd or sly manner, as in deceiving; craftiness; guile.

   Synonyms: deception, intrigue, trickery

2. adeptness in performance; dexterity:

   The weaver's hand had not lost its cunning.

   Synonyms: agility, adroitness

adjective

1. showing or made with ingenuity.

   Synonyms: skillful, ingenious

2. artfully subtle or shrewd; crafty; sly.

   Synonyms: foxy, tricky, wily, artful

3. Informal. charmingly cute or appealing:

   a cunning little baby.

4. Archaic. skillful; expert.

verb

1. Obsolete. present participle of can ¹.

cunning

/ ˈkʌnɪŋ /

adjective

1. crafty and shrewd, esp in deception; sly

   cunning as a fox

2. made with or showing skill or cleverness; ingenious

noun

1. craftiness, esp in deceiving; slyness
2. cleverness, skill, or ingenuity

Derived Forms

• ˈcunningly, adverb
• ˈcunningness, noun

Other Words From

• cun·ning·ly adverb
• cun·ning·ness noun
• o·ver·cun·ning adjective
• o·ver·cun·ning·ness noun
• qua·si-cun·ning adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cunning¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; (noun) Middle English; Old English cunnung, equivalent to cunn(an) “to know” ( can ¹ ) + -ung -ing ¹; (adjective, verb) Middle English, present participle of cunnan “to know” ( can ¹, -ing ² )

Word History and Origins

Origin of cunning¹

Old English cunnende; related to cunnan to know (see can ¹), cunnian to test, experience, Old Norse kunna to know

Synonym Study

Cunning, artifice, craft imply an inclination toward deceit, slyness, and trickery. Cunning implies a shrewd, often instinctive skill in concealing or disguising the real purposes of one's actions: not intelligence but a low kind of cunning. An artifice is a clever, unscrupulous ruse, used to mislead others: a successful artifice to conceal one's motives. Craft suggests underhand methods and the use of deceptive devices and tricks to attain one's ends: craft and deceitfulness in every act.

Example Sentences

Philosopher Nick Bostrom conjectures that such an agent might devote all of its superhuman productivity and cunning to “reducing the risk of future disruption” of its precious reward source.

From Singularity Hub 

To demonstrate what he calls Jenkins’s cunning nature, Stepp provided a four-page, handwritten letter Jenkins sent him in April 2017, less than two months after the officer had been arrested.

From Washington Post

Graham shared that a cunning avian thief once swiped his car keys, which he later discovered dangling from a dock halfway around the island.

From Outside Online

The documentary focuses on the ways cunning lawyers have taken advantage of seniors and other vulnerable people.

From Ozy

It demands the legs of a sprinter, the lungs of a marathoner, and the tactical cunning of a chess grandmaster.

From Outside Online

However, the apple had been made with such cunning that only the red part was poisoned.

From The Daily Beast

“Ben, who was as cunning and seductive as Diane, really wooed Diane,” says an insider.

From The Daily Beast

Of course, there is the catch that Nancy has always been a bit more cunning and self-centered (though not self-aware) than Piper.

From The Daily Beast

Entertaining used to require intelligence or a measure of wit or, at least, peasant cunning.

From The Daily Beast

Cersei is cunning, focused, and power-hungry—not unlike her father and brothers.

From The Daily Beast

But this time, with all his cunning and perspiration, he could not induce another throb in the tired engines.

From Project Gutenberg

Aunty Rosa had credited him in the past with petty cunning and stratagem that had never entered into his head.

From Project Gutenberg

In a dream he crossed the crowded hall, avoiding various acquaintances with unconscious cunning.

From Project Gutenberg

Whether this aptitude was combined with the sinuous cunning that is essentially Oriental Nigel did not know.

From Project Gutenberg

Of these Napoleon was well advised, but Bernadotte was too cunning to allow himself to be compromised absolutely.

From Project Gutenberg