wily

[wahy-lee]

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adjective, wil·i·er, wil·i·est.

full of, marked by, or proceeding from wiles; crafty; cunning.

Origin of wily

Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at wile, -y¹

Related formswil·i·ly, adverbwil·i·ness, nouno·ver·wil·y, adjectiveun·wil·y, adjective

Synonyms for wily

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artful, sly, designing, intriguing, tricky, foxy, deceitful, treacherous.

Antonyms for wily

straightforward, open.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for wiliness

duplicity, art, infidelity, falsehood, fraud, trickery, chicanery, deceit, mendacity, treachery, corruption, graft, criminality, guile, artfulness, artifice, craftiness, slyness, astuteness, wiliness

Examples from the Web for wiliness

Historical Examples of wiliness

Garnache went about sounding the man with a wiliness peculiarly his own.
St. Martin's Summer
Rafael Sabatini
Bobby smiled up at him in smug satisfaction over his own wiliness.
The Dominant Strain
Anna Chapin Ray
I will watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with its venom.
Frankenstein
Mary W. Shelley
"What the brethren wanted in strength they had in wiliness," he says.
The Beginners of a Nation
Edward Eggleston.
It depends a lot upon the wiliness of the fox he's in pursuit of.
The Riddle of the Spinning Wheel
Mary E. Hanshew

British Dictionary definitions for wiliness

wily

adjective wilier or wiliest

characterized by or proceeding from wiles; sly or crafty

Derived Formswiliness, 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

Word Origin and History for wiliness

wily

adj.

c.1300, from wile + -ly (1). Related: Wiliness.