Antonyms for cunning


Grammar : Adj
Spell : kuhn-ing
Phonetic Transcription : ˈkʌn ɪŋ


Definition of cunning

Origin :
  • early 14c., "learned, skillful," present participle of cunnen "to know" (see can (v.1)). Sense of "skillfully deceitful" is probably late 14c. As a noun from c.1300. Related: Cunningly.
  • adj devious
  • adj imaginative
Example sentences :
  • I have watched them cover their tracks with a cunning more than vulpine.
  • Extract from : « 'Tis Sixty Years Since » by Charles Francis Adams
  • Tranter, cunning and wary from years of fighting, knew that his chance had come.
  • Extract from : « The White Company » by Arthur Conan Doyle
  • The thing was outrageous to him, and he set himself to match her cunning.
  • Extract from : « Within the Law » by Marvin Dana
  • But she is cunning in love's ways and dulls Shakespeare's resentment with "I don't hate you."
  • Extract from : « The Man Shakespeare » by Frank Harris
  • His next move proved that his cunning was of an exceptional order.
  • Extract from : « Thoroughbreds » by W. A. Fraser
  • Their thieves are the most daring and their agents the most cunning.
  • Extract from : « The Story of the Malakand Field Force » by Sir Winston S. Churchill
  • All the treaties he makes are forced from him by violence or cunning.
  • Extract from : « The Dream » by Emile Zola
  • The cunning Medea observed what was passing in the young man's mind.
  • Extract from : « Tanglewood Tales » by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • "Oh, do not be afraid for me," replied the priest with a cunning little smile.
  • Extract from : « Fair Margaret » by H. Rider Haggard
  • Magua had now attained one great object of all his cunning and enterprise.
  • Extract from : « The Last of the Mohicans » by James Fenimore Cooper

Synonyms for cunning

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019