wile
a trick, artifice, or stratagem meant to fool, trap, or entice; device.
wiles, artful or beguiling behavior.
deceitful cunning; trickery.
to beguile, entice, or lure (usually followed by away, from, into, etc.): The music wiled him from his study.
wile away, to spend or pass (time), especially in a leisurely or pleasurable fashion: to wile away the long winter nights.
Origin of wile
1synonym study For wile
Other words for wile
Other words from wile
- outwile, verb (used with object), out·wiled, out·wil·ing.
Words that may be confused with wile
- while, wile
Words Nearby wile
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use wile in a sentence
Our conversation ranged from the tobacco industry’s wiles to social media’s complicity in bad data.
Why Misinformation Is About Who You Trust, Not What You Think - Issue 100: Outsiders | Brian Gallagher & Kevin Berger | May 26, 2021 | NautilusShe’s strong, bold, clever, and raids tombs with all the wiles of Indiana Jones.
Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon is a sumptuous fantasy — but it makes a mess of Southeast Asian culture | Aja Romano | March 5, 2021 | Voxwile E. Coyote is running after the Road Runner and eventually finds he has run off a cliff.
Vancouver Real-Estate Market Unlikely Victim of China Slowdown | Vikram Mansharamani | November 12, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTTo accomplish this goal, Netanyahu used a simple chart that looked like a wile E. Coyote bomb.
Like wile E. Coyote, they will keep running until everyone else recognizes that there is no ground beneath their feet.
With all the wile of a political boss she spread the seed of discontent, trusting it would fall on fertile soil.
Dominie Dean | Ellis Parker ButlerHe told Auld Jock so by running to the door and back and begging him, by every pretty wile at his command, to go.
Greyfriars Bobby | Eleanor AtkinsonSapho calls Aphrodite the "star-throned, incorruptible, wile-weaving child of Zeus."
Stories of Old Greece and Rome | Emilie Kip BakerAc nu ic wile wnden to e hali mihtes al swo ich r hadde iunnen be godes fultume.
Ine swiche lorde et siche miracle mai do and do wanne he wile.
British Dictionary definitions for wile
/ (waɪl) /
trickery, cunning, or craftiness
(usually plural) an artful or seductive trick or ploy
(tr) to lure, beguile, or entice
Origin of wile
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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