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.
Whereas some players compensate for age with craft and guile, he has simply tapped back into the power and athleticism that made him great in the first place.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
“She was a black hole, whose charm and guile belied her hatred of the world,” Inspector Yavuz concludes of Chana.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
The Colombian has intelligence and guile but he's also got the work-ethic that means every bit as much as his other qualities.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
But the Cyclops is one-eyed, slow-moving and tactically naive, like the English national team, and is eventually defeated by firm managerial leadership and guile.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
I search Horatio’s face, but as always there is no guile in him.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
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.
