sly

[ slahy ]

/ slaɪ /

adjective, sly·er, sly·est.

cunning or wily: sly as a fox.

stealthy, insidious, or secret.

playfully artful, mischievous, or roguish: sly humor.

Words nearby sly

slut, slut-shame, slutch, sluter, slutty, sly, sly grog, sly-grog, slyboots, slyly, slype

Idioms for sly

on the sly, secretly; furtively: a tryst on the sly.

Origin of sly

1150–1200; Middle English sly, sley, from Old Norse slœgr “sly, cunning” (originally “able to strike, able to slay”); see slay

SYNONYMS FOR sly

1 artful, subtle, foxy, crafty, shrewd, astute.

2 surreptitious, furtive, underhand, clandestine.

ANTONYMS FOR sly

1 direct, obvious.

OTHER WORDS FROM sly

sly·ly, adverbsly·ness, nounun·sly, adjective, un·sly·er, un·sly·est.un·sly·ly, adverb

un·sly·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for slyest

When buckled down to his work he became the slyest and cleverest of diplomats.
Parisians in the Country|Honore de Balzac
To tell the truth, human beings are the slyest and crudest of animals.
Verotchka's Tales|Mamin Siberiak
So they learned lots—and the slyest scoundrels learned the most.
It Is Never Too Late to Mend|Charles Reade
It's the slyest trick the old fox has ever tried to play on us.
A Man of the People|Thomas Dixon

The slyest of all animals have been caught in the most simple way a trap could be set, because they were hungry.
Wolf and Coyote Trapping|A. R. (Arthur Robert) Harding

British Dictionary definitions for slyest

sly

/ (slaɪ) /

adjective slyer, slyest, slier or sliest

crafty; artfula sly dodge

insidious; furtivea sly manner

playfully mischievous; roguishsly humour

noun

on the sly in a secretive manner

Derived forms of sly

slyly or slily, adverbslyness, noun

Word Origin for sly

C12: from Old Norse slǣgr clever, literally: able to strike, from slā to slay

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

Idioms and Phrases with slyest

sly

see on the sly.