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

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Etymology

Origin of sleight

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

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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

It’s a statistical sleight of hand to conclude from this that old age is what causes bull markets to end, however.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026

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

From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026

The author also explores the sleight of intellect practiced by Jefferson, a slave owner who deplored slavery and used his rhetorical skills to cast the cause of states’ rights as a question of liberty.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

He had moments at Wembley, especially with some superb sleight of foot, but both he and Tuchel would have wished for better end product.

From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2025

For sleight of hand, she realized, so that he can keep contact with coins or cards or finesse the workings of a lock.

From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo

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

In one of several misleading rhetorical sleights, Ms. Goldstein credits the materialist focus of Greek philosophy with inventing the secular, a modern concept.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 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

“For all the blink-and-it’s-gone sleights of hand,” writes essayist Lynell George in one such section, “here in Los Angeles, the deep past can catch you unawares.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2021

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

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