tricksy

[ trik-see ]

adjective

, trick·si·er, trick·si·est.

1. Also given to tricks; mischievous; playful; prankish.
2. difficult to handle or deal with.
3. Archaic. tricky; crafty; wily.
4. Archaic. fashionably trim; spruce; smart.

tricksy

/ ˈtrɪksɪ /

adjective

1. playing tricks habitually; mischievous
2. crafty or difficult to deal with
3. archaic.
   well-dressed; spruce; smart

Derived Forms

• ˈtricksiness, noun

Other Words From

• tricksi·ly adverb
• tricksi·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of tricksy¹

1545–55; trick + -s ³ + -y ¹; -sy

Example Sentences

It’s right there in the script of Francis Beaumont’s “The Knight of the Burning Pestle,” a tricksy, loopy, wildly self-referential 1607 play that parodies both city comedy and chivalric romance.

From New York Times

This is unfortunate in an otherwise meticulously calibrated production, exquisitely lit by David Finn on a tricksy set whose surface transforms from water to stone to wood, not a whit of it digital.

From New York Times

Psychological coherence takes a back seat to tricksy plotting.

From Los Angeles Times

She keeps the Polaroid picture of herself and her friends, taken by a tricksy hitchhiker in the 1974 film, on her dashboard visor.

From Salon

Besides being a deliciously sardonic tale of reversals and comeuppance, “Ezra Slef” pays deft homage to Nabokov, Borges, Flann O’Brien and numerous other tricksy writers.

From Washington Post