tricksy

[ trik-see ]

/ ˈtrɪk si /

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adjective, trick·si·er, trick·si·est.

Also tricksome. given to tricks; mischievous; playful; prankish.

difficult to handle or deal with.

Archaic. tricky; crafty; wily.

Archaic. fashionably trim; spruce; smart.

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Origin of tricksy

1545–55; trick + -s³ + -y¹; cf. -sy

OTHER WORDS FROM tricksy

trick·si·ly, adverbtrick·si·ness, noun

Words nearby tricksy

trick or treat, trick out, tricks of the trade, tricksome, trickster, tricksy, trick-track, tricky, triclad, triclinic, triclinium

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use tricksy in a sentence

Her horns bedecked with ribbons gay, And garlanded with rosy may,—A tricksy sight.
The Book of Humorous Verse|Various
The river is about five miles from shore to shore, and we have known it of old for a most enticing and tricksy customer.
Palmetto-Leaves|Harriet Beecher Stowe
Madame von Marwitz now looked at her and as she looked the tricksy light of malice again grew in her eye.
Tante|Anne Douglas Sedgwick
Wasn't I born on a Easter Sunday, wid the power to see the good people, an' the little people, an' all the tricksy tribes?
The Harbor Master|Theodore Goodridge Roberts

Sometimes a tricksy, half-provoked desire to break through the barricade of his stoicism tempted her.
Big Timber|Bertrand W. Sinclair

British Dictionary definitions for tricksy

tricksy

/ (ˈtrɪksɪ) /

adjective -sier or -siest

playing tricks habitually; mischievous

crafty or difficult to deal with

archaic well-dressed; spruce; smart

Derived forms of tricksy

tricksiness, noun

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