wile
Americannoun
-
a trick, artifice, or stratagem meant to fool, trap, or entice; device.
- Synonyms:
- maneuver, contrivance, deception
-
wiles, artful or beguiling behavior.
- Synonyms:
- maneuver, contrivance, deception
-
deceitful cunning; trickery.
verb (used with object)
verb phrase
noun
-
trickery, cunning, or craftiness
-
(usually plural) an artful or seductive trick or ploy
verb
Synonym Usage
See trick.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of wile
1125–75; (noun) Middle English; late Old English wil, perhaps < Old Norse vēl artifice, earlier *wihl-
Explanation
The noun wile is good for describing a particular kind of deviousness, but its plural form is most commonly used. Your charming brother might use his wiles to talk your parents into loaning him money again and again. You can describe your cousin's knack for getting exactly what he wants through slyness and trickery as his wile. Language experts can only guess about the origin of wile, though many believe it's related to the Old Norse vél, or "craft." Others think there may be a connection with the Old English word for "wizard," wicca.
Vocabulary lists containing wile
Beowulf
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Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie
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Tolkien Reading Day, List 7
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
However, the promised repayment date soon passed, wile Barnes continued reassuring them the money was coming.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
Miura was third in the free skate to seize the last podium place with a total of 253.69 points wile Tomono, fifth in the free skate, was fourth with 251.46.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2025
The index of the economic outlook for the next 12 months slipped 0.4%, wile the outlook for the next five years climbed 5.2%.
From Reuters ● Dec. 12, 2022
These tales, with their lessons about how to navigate past a menacing wolf or the cruelty of fate, did offer up heroines full of wile and quick thinking.
From New York Times ● Sep. 22, 2021
A wile is a trick or an enticement.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
Beneath the character’s flirtatious wiles, her powerful soprano brought steel to Blanche’s determination to live in her fantasy—a lost world of wealth and graciousness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
England's scrum creaked, perhaps decisively, when the wisdom and wiles of Cole and Marler departed.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2023
My concern is that it’s all too tempting to yield to such wiles in the name of saving time and minimizing effort.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 29, 2023
On top of that, Canadiens general manager Sam Pollock had used all of his infamous wiles to land Lafleur, who grew up in the small Quebec paper-mill town of Thurso.
From New York Times ● Apr. 22, 2022
Jeffrey saw Renee and started to whirl toward her — she lives around the corner from us, and I guess not even four-year-olds are immune to her charms and wiles.
From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick
As they had before the quake, they smoked cigars and wiled away the afternoon.
From New York Times ● Feb. 14, 2023
Adults wiled away days attending church, playing badminton, taking pottery classes and listening to music on the shores of a picturesque western New York lake.
From New York Times ● Aug. 13, 2022
A few years ago, I wiled away an evening with friends in a thermal bath in Segesta, in the same waters where ancient demigods reputedly used to frolic.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2021
It was at France House, for example, where Lochte and his swimming teammates wiled away the night before their fateful gas station incident.
From Time ● Aug. 21, 2016
Nothing could be further from the non-contact European court dances with which the colonial sugar-cane and coffee-plantation owners had wiled away their evenings before Cuban independence.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
He said the case was brought to "a crashing halt" when Mr Collins outlined the limits of what he would be wiling to say in court.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2025
"Those banks seek safety of principle plus interest and are not interested in or wiling to forego either in the interest of dealing with the climate crisis," Wolff said.
From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2024
She also suggests asking yourself how much risk you’re wiling to take.
From Slate ● Nov. 16, 2023
"You can put a value on stuff but if no one's wiling to pay that price, it's not a true value."
From Reuters ● Jul. 19, 2023
Could he see what had weaned her from him, and was still, like a baleful star, wiling her farther and farther on its treacherously lighted path?
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 73, November, 1863 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
