Definitions for: Cunning


[n] drafty artfulness (especially in deception)
[n] shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
[n] shrewdness in deception; "as cunning as a fox"
[adj] showing inventiveness and skill; "a clever gadget"; "the cunning maneuvers leading to his success"; "an ingenious solution to the problem"
[adj] marked by skill in deception; "cunning men often pass for wise"; "deep political machinations"; "a foxy scheme"; "a slick evasive answer"; "sly as a fox"; "tricky Dick"; "a wily old attorney"
[adj] attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness; "a cute kid with pigtails"; "a cute little apartment"; "cunning kittens"; "a cunning baby"



Webster (1913) Definition: Cun"ning (k[u^]n"n[i^]ng), a. [AS. cunnan to know, to
be able. See 1st Con, Can.]
1. Knowing; skillful; dexterous. ``A cunning workman.'' --
Ex. xxxviii. 23.

``Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white
Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on. --Shak.

Esau was a cunning hunter. --Gen xxv. 27.

2. Wrought with, or exhibiting, skill or ingenuity;
ingenious; curious; as, cunning work.

Over them Arachne high did lift

Her cunning web. --Spenser.

3. Crafty; sly; artful; designing; deceitful.

They are resolved to be cunning; let others run the
hazard of being sincere. --South.

4. Pretty or pleasing; as, a cunning little boy. [Colloq.
U.S.] --Barlett.

Syn: Cunning, Artful, Sly, Wily, Crafty.

Usage: These epithets agree in expressing an aptitude for
attaining some end by peculiar and secret means.
Cunning is usually low; as, a cunning trick. Artful is
more ingenious and inventive; as, an artful device.
Sly implies a turn for what is double or concealed;
as, sly humor; a sly evasion. Crafty denotes a talent
for dexterously deceiving; as, a crafty manager. Wily
describes a talent for the use of stratagems; as, a
wily politician. ``Acunning man often shows his
dexterity in simply concealing. An artful man goes
further, and exerts his ingenuity in misleading. A
crafty man mingles cunning with art, and so shapes his
actions as to lull suspicions. The young may be
cunning, but the experienced only can be crafty.
Slyness is a vulgar kind of cunning; the sly man goes
cautiously and silently to work. Wiliness is a species
of cunning or craft applicable only to cases of attack
and defense.'' --Crabb.


Cun"ning, n. [AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi
knowledge. See Cunning, a.]
1. Knowledge; art; skill; dexterity. [Archaic]

Let my right hand forget her cunning. --Ps. cxxxvii.
5.

A carpenter's desert Stands more in cunning than in
power. --Chapman.

2. The faculty or act of using stratagem to accomplish a
purpose; fraudulent skill or dexterity; deceit; craft.

Discourage cunning in a child; cunning is the ape of
wisdom. --Locke.

We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom.
--Bacon.

Synonyms: adroit, artful, attractive, clever, craft, craftiness, crafty, cute, dodgy, foxiness, foxy, guile, guileful, ingenious, knavish, slick, sly, slyness, tricksy, tricky, wiliness, wily

See Also: artfulness, astuteness, perspicaciousness, perspicacity, shrewdness

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