cunning

American  

[kuhn-ing] / ˈkʌn ɪŋ /

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

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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.

cunning British  

/ ˈkʌnɪŋ /

adjective

1. crafty and shrewd, esp in deception; sly

   cunning as a fox

2. made with or showing skill or cleverness; ingenious

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noun

1. craftiness, esp in deceiving; slyness

2. cleverness, skill, or ingenuity

Related Words

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.

Other Word Forms

• cunningly
  adverb
• cunningness
  noun
• overcunning
  adjective
• overcunningness
  noun
• quasi-cunning
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of cunning

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 )

Explanation

In fairy tales, always watch out for the cunning fox or the cunning witch. Cunning means clever, in the sense of trickery. A cunning plan might involve setting traps for the innocent and pure at heart to fall into. This adjective goes back to the 14th-century English verb cunnen, which meant "to know," and is actually related to our English verb know. In earlier times, the noun was used to mean a high level of skill in using the hands. You can be cunning, but you can also use your cunning to figure out a very clever and tricky plan.

Example Sentences

It's not the first time David and Daniel have worked together, as the actor helped launch David's podcast, Cunning Stunts, which features interviews with other stunt doubles, in 2020.

From BBC • Oct. 25, 2023

“He is in every Brazilian,” said Duke University historian John French, the author of “Lula and His Politics of Cunning: From Metalworker to President of Brazil.”

From Washington Post • Oct. 25, 2022

Cunning Munnings won at this distance here in September for trainer Mark Glatt.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 13, 2019

But it was his production of Leo Janacek’s opera “The Cunning Little Vixen” at Glyndebourne in 1975 that proved to be truly career-changing.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 27, 2019

“We don’t have to be rough. Cunning is all we need to be.”

From "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison