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Synonyms

tricky

American  
[trik-ee] / ˈtrɪk i /

adjective

trickier, trickiest

  1. given to or characterized by deceitful tricks; crafty; wily.

    Synonyms:
    shrewd, sly, artful

  2. skilled in clever tricks or dodges.

    Synonyms:
    adroit, skillful

  3. deceptive, uncertain, or difficult to deal with or handle.

    Synonyms:
    perilous, unreliable, unpredictable, doubtful
tricky British  
/ ˈtrɪkɪ /

adjective

  1. involving snags or difficulties

    a tricky job

  2. needing careful and tactful handling

    a tricky situation

  3. characterized by tricks; sly; wily

    a tricky dealer
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of tricky

First recorded in 1780–90; trick + -y 1

Explanation

If something is tricky, it's difficult, like a tricky puzzle. And if a person is tricky, they're sneaky, skilled, or crafty, like a tricky magician who makes it look easy to pull quarters out of your ears. A tricky riddle is extremely hard to figure out, and a tricky question on a math test is even trickier if you can't use a calculator to solve it. In their 1986 rap classic, "It's Tricky," Run-DMC claimed that "it's tricky...to rock a rhyme that's right on time" — or in other words, it's really difficult to write a clever rap lyric.

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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.

Appeared in the April 21, 2026, print edition as 'Warsh Embarks On Tricky Path for Fed Job'.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026

"Tricky one. Quick game. If we'd managed that extra 50 or 60, we probably would've been right in the contest at the end."

From Barron's • Dec. 27, 2025

Tricky to reduce or heavily tax those imports.

From BBC • Apr. 3, 2025

Working in the United States on an international visa from the Netherlands in 2014, Mangroe said she was invited via social media to join The-Dream and his partner Tricky Stewart in Atlanta.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 4, 2024

It was the autumn of 1952 and Tricky Dick, then a Senator from California, had just been selected as the Republican vice presidential candidate for that November’s election.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith

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.