Meaning of cunning in English
Table of contents
Pronunciation
/ˈkənɪŋ/US accent
UK accent
to browse different examples of pronunciation.Classifying Adjective
cunningDefinitions
1. attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintnessExamples
- « a cute kid with pigtails »
- « a cute little apartment »
- « cunning kittens »
- « a cunning baby »
Synonyms
- 2. marked by skill in deception
Examples
- « cunning men often pass for wise »
- « deep political machinations »
- « a foxy scheme »
- « a slick evasive answer »
- « sly as a fox »
- « tricky Dik »
- « a wily old attorney »
Synonyms
- 3. showing inventiveness and skill
Examples
- « a clever gadget »
- « the cunning maneuvers leading to his success »
- « an ingenious solution to the problem »
Synonyms
Noun
cunningDefinitions
1. shrewdness in deceptionExamples
- « as cunning as a fox »
- 2. shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
- 3. drafty artfulness (especially in deception)
Famous quotes
- « Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects, and discovering other people's weaknesses. » William Hazlitt
- « With care, and skill, and cunning art, She parried Time's malicious dart, And kept the years at bay, Till passion entered in her heart and aged her in a day! » Ella Wheeler Wilcox
- « Cunning... is but the low mimic of wisdom. » Plato
- « A lot of film directors are quite scared of actors. They are a bit of a nightmare sometimes, but I like them. It looks like cunning, but you try to get extra things from them all the time, by stealth, by making them feel confident, so they trust you and you can push a bit. » Danny Boyle
- « None speak of the bravery, the might, or the intellect of Jesus but the devil is always imagined as a being of acute intellect, political cunning, and the fiercest courage. These universal and instinctive tendencies of the human mind reveal much. » Lydia M. Child