tricksy

American  

[trik-see] / ˈtrɪk si /

adjective

tricksier, tricksiest

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

2. difficult to handle or deal with.

3. Archaic. tricky; crafty; wily.

4. Archaic. fashionably trim; spruce; smart.

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tricksy British  

/ ˈtrɪksɪ /

adjective

1. playing tricks habitually; mischievous

2. crafty or difficult to deal with

3. archaic well-dressed; spruce; smart

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Other Word Forms

• tricksily adverb
• tricksiness noun

Etymology

Origin of tricksy

1545–55; trick + -s ³ + -y ¹; -sy

Example Sentences

It’s right there in the script of Francis Beaumont’s “The Knight of the Burning Pestle,” a tricksy, loopy, wildly self-referential 1607 play that parodies both city comedy and chivalric romance.

From New York Times

This is unfortunate in an otherwise meticulously calibrated production, exquisitely lit by David Finn on a tricksy set whose surface transforms from water to stone to wood, not a whit of it digital.

From New York Times

Psychological coherence takes a back seat to tricksy plotting.

From Los Angeles Times

She keeps the Polaroid picture of herself and her friends, taken by a tricksy hitchhiker in the 1974 film, on her dashboard visor.

From Salon

Besides being a deliciously sardonic tale of reversals and comeuppance, “Ezra Slef” pays deft homage to Nabokov, Borges, Flann O’Brien and numerous other tricksy writers.

From Washington Post