wily

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: wil=y

CIDE DICTIONARY

wily, a. [From Wile.].

 Full of wiles, tricks, or stratagems; using craft or stratagem to accomplish a purpose; mischievously artful; subtle.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]
"This false, wily, doubling disposition of mind."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Cunning; artful; sly; crafty. See Cunning.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

wily, adj. (wilier, wiliest) full of wiles; crafty, cunning.

Derivative

wilily adv. wiliness n.

THESAURUS

wily

Byzantine, Machiavellian, Machiavellic, acute, arch, artful, astute, cagey, calculating, canny, chiseling, clever, collusive, covinous, crafty, cunning, cute, deceitful, deep, deep-laid, designing, devious, diplomatic, false, falsehearted, feline, finagling, foxy, fraudulent, furtive, guileful, indirect, ingenious, insidious, inventive, knowing, pawky, politic, ready, resourceful, sagacious, scheming, serpentine, sharp, shifty, shrewd, slick, slippery, sly, smooth, snaky, sneaky, sophistical, stealthy, strategic, subtile, subtle, supple, surreptitious, tactical, treacherous, trickish, tricksy, tricky, two-faced, underhand, underhanded, vulpine, wary

ROGET THESAURUS

wily

Cunning

N cunning, craft, cunningness, craftiness, subtlety, artificiality, maneuvering, temporization, circumvention, chicane, chicanery, sharp practice, knavery, jugglery, concealment, guile, doubling, duplicity, foul play, diplomacy, politics, Machiavelism, jobbery, backstairs influence, art, artifice, device, machination, plot, maneuver, stratagem, dodge, sidestep, artful dodge, wile, trick, trickery, ruse, ruse de guerre, finesse, side blow, thin end of the wedge, shift, go by, subterfuge, evasion, white lie, juggle, tour de force, tricks of the trade, tricks upon travelers, espieglerie, net, trap, Ulysses, Machiavel, sly boots, fox, reynard, Scotchman, Jew, Yankee, intriguer, intrigant, floater, Indian giver, keener, repeater, cunning, crafty, artful, skillful, subtle, feline, vulpine, cunning as a fox, cunning as a serpent, deep, deep laid, profound, designing, contriving, intriguing, strategic, diplomatic, politic, Machiavelian, timeserving, artificial, tricky, tricksy, wily, sly, slim, insidious, stealthy, underhand, subdolous, deceitful, slippery as an eel, evasive, crooked, arch, pawky, shrewd, acute, sharp, sharp as a tack, sharp as a needle, canny, astute, leery, knowing, up to snuff, too clever by half, not to be caught with chaff, tactful, diplomatic, politic, polite, cunningly, slyly, slily, on the sly, by a side wind, diamond cut diamond, a' bis ou a blanc, fin contre fin, something is rotten in the state of Denmark.