guile
noun [U] /ɡaɪl/ formalDefinition
› clever but sometimes dishonest behaviour that you use to deceive someone: The president will need to use all her political guile to stay in power. He is a simple man, totally lacking in guile.Sly and devious
(Definition of guile noun from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus
© Cambridge University Press)
Browse related topics
You are looking at an entry to do with Sly & devious, but you might be interested in these topics from the Honesty and dishonesty topic area:
- Affected & insincere
- Blunt and direct in speech & behaviour
- Cheating & tricking
- Dishonest
- Dishonest people
- Disloyalty, betrayal & treason
- Faking & pretending
- Honesty, openness & sincerity
- Lies, lying & hypocrisy
- Loyal, faithful & dependable
- Naive & trusting
- Plotting & trapping
- Praising insincerely or too eagerly
Browse the Thesaurus
SMART Thesaurus
Synonyms and related words:
- artful adjective
- back-door adjective
- calculating adjective
- calculation noun (PERSON)
- conniving adjective
- conspiratorial adjective
- cunning adjective (CLEVER)
- cunning noun
- devious adjective (DISHONEST)
- disingenuous adjective
- fox noun (CLEVER PERSON)
- foxy adjective (ANIMAL)
- Machiavellian adjective
- sleight of hand noun
- sneaky adjective
- trick adjective (DECEIVING)
- tricky adjective (DISHONEST)
- underhand adjective
Topic:
Sly & devious
Word of the Day
ride (out) the storm
to manage not to be destroyed, harmed or permanently affected by the difficult situation you...
Blog
Read our blog about how the English language behaves.
New Words
Find words and meanings that have just started to be used in English, and let us know what you think of them.
