cunning Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
    guile; craft; slyness; foxiness; craftiness; wiliness.
  2. noun crafty artfulness (especially in deception)
  3. adjective satellite attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness
    cute.
    • a cute kid with pigtails
    • a cute little apartment
    • cunning kittens
    • a cunning baby
  4. adjective satellite marked by skill in deception
    tricky; wily; knavish; sly; slick; foxy; guileful; tricksy; dodgy; crafty.
    • 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
  5. adjective satellite showing inventiveness and skill
    ingenious; clever.
    • a clever gadget
    • the cunning maneuvers leading to his success
    • an ingenious solution to the problem

WordNet

Cun"ning adjective
Etymology
AS. cunnan to know, to be able. See 1st Con, Can.
Definitions
  1. Knowing; skillfull; 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 exibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious; curious; as, cunning work.
    Over them Arachne high did lift Her cunning web. Spenser.
  3. Crafty; sly; artful; designid; 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. 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 defence." Crabb.
Cun"ning noun
Etymology
AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi knowledge. See Cunning, a.
Definitions
  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.

Webster 1913