guile
Americannoun
noun
Synonym Usage
See duplicity.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of guile
1175–1225; Middle English < Old French < Germanic; akin to wile
Explanation
Use the noun guile for cunning, craftiness, and artful duplicity. Acting like you have a job on Wall Street when you're actually unemployed would take a lot of guile. The noun guile has quite negative connotations, as it refers to the kind of knowledge and skill that can be used by comic book villains for evil and not good! People who have guile are also thought of as being wily (which is also a related word), sneaky, and deceitful. Those who are free of guile are pure and upstanding, and Henry David Thoreau affirms those feelings when he writes: "It is the work of a brave man surely, in whom there was no guile!"
Vocabulary lists containing guile
The Crucible
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"The Crucible" -- Vocabulary from all 4 Acts
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Grade 11, List 2
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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.
This extended reality might work even better for individual sports, where each athlete’s strength and guile would be tested in ways never seen: Imagine Muhammad Ali vs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
McInnes saluted Kerjota for his guile in taking players on and unlocking a defence that at times made you think that a miraculous act of escapology was possible.
From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2026
Howe's side have often lacked the guile to find a way through a low block, which then feeds into their main issue on the road - a lack of goals.
From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2026
Like Julien Duvivier and François Truffaut before him, Kiarostami captures their innocence and guile with righteous force.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 27, 2025
People were drawn to Fischer’s energy and generosity, his absence of guile, his almost childlike enthusiasm.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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.
