wily
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of wily
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at wile, -y 1
Explanation
Did you fall for that wily door-to-door salesman's pitch? He must be very slick and tricky to have convinced you to buy a set of new tires, considering you don't have a car. How can you remember the meaning of the adjective wily? Just think about the old Warner Brothers Looney Tunes cartoons. Their aptly named cartoon character, Wile E. Coyote, got his name from a clever play on words. Wile E. is supposed to be cunning, crafty, and clever — in other words, wily. Wile E. is all those things, but unfortunately he was usually bested by that pesky roadrunner anyway. Meep. Meep.
Vocabulary lists containing wily
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
List 7
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The Watsons Go to Birmingham
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It didn’t achieve much, but it also didn’t appear to give away anything notable to the wily dictator.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
Here Hyungjin Son, the bumpkin-ish Bardolph in “Falstaff,” portrayed the Count, while Colclough was the wily Figaro.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2026
Lyndon B. Johnson, the party’s wily leader, used it to effectively kill business-friendly amendments to a federal labor law that the GOP had been pushing.
From Slate • Apr. 24, 2026
John Rudge was at Stoke with me, as our director of sport, and was a wily old fox.
From BBC • Feb. 2, 2026
Hunters will tell you that a moose is a wily and ferocious forest creature.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
