sleight

American  

[slahyt] / slaɪt /

noun

• sleights
  plural

1. skill; dexterity.

2. an artifice; stratagem.

3. cunning; craft.

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sleight British  

/ slaɪt /

noun

1. skill; dexterity See also sleight of hand

2. a trick or stratagem

3. cunning; trickery

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Usage

What does sleight mean? Sleight means skill, especially with one’s hands (dexterity). It can also mean trickery or cunning, or a specific trick or scheme. Sleight is by far most commonly used in the phrase sleight of hand, whose meanings are very similar to those of sleight: manual dexterity, general trickery, or a trick performed with quick and skillful hand movements. Sleight and sleight of hand are especially associated with coin and card tricks that require such hand movements. They’re also associated with deceptive ways of stealing, such as pickpocketing. Sleight should not be confused with the word slight, which has the same pronunciation. As an adjective, slight means small or insignificant. As a noun, it commonly means the act of treating someone with indifference or snubbing them. Example: The illusionist spent years perfecting his sleight so that it was undetectable even at close range.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• sleights
  plural

Etymology

Origin of sleight

1225–75; Middle English; early Middle English slēgth < Old Norse slǣgth. See sly, -th ¹

Explanation

The noun sleight refers to being able to use your hands with ease, especially when doing a trick. Sleight is often used in the phrase "sleight of hand." If you are a good magician, you can make a coin disappear with sleight of hand. The noun sleight refers to cunning or cleverness, especially when used to trick or deceive. You can use a sleight of mind to trick yourself into believing that if you eat a box of cookies at dinnertime, it counts as dinner. The word sleight has a long history and comes from the Middle English word sleghth, which also meant "cunning." Back then, people would have pronounced the "gh" — even though today we don't.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sleight sleights

A sleight of hand fills the Times piece.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

The case turns on a sleight of hand. and once you see it, you’ll spot it everywhere.

From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026

Diomande also showed power and sleight of foot to escape when Ecuador doubled up on him in an attempt to snuff out his threat.

From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026

The most recent sleight of hand is circular financing.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 24, 2025

They watched his dealing more closely, mistaking his clumsiness for a cardsharp’s sleight of hand.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

That’s what Thompson is offering on “Never Be the Same”: no magic tricks or sleights of hand, but songs that listeners will feel and live.

From Salon ● May 15, 2026

The trade agreement might not be such good news, however, as upcoming tech results will be watched for any signs of accounting sleights of hand, Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026

It’s fitting that the artist has taken a class on magic, and that he continues to read up on the subject; behind his playful sleights of hand is a rigorous artistic practice.

From New York Times ● Sep. 7, 2022

The building also bears some of the visual sleights of hand borrowed from the industry that helped build it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 12, 2022

I watched as he demonstrated tricks and sleights of hand he learned from Yorick, but I never dared to speak to him.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein