crafty

adjective

ˈkraf-tē 

craftier; craftiest

1

: skillful, clever

2

a

: adept in the use of subtlety and cunning

a crafty swindler

The crafty detective got the suspect to confess to the crime.

b

: marked by subtlety and guile

a crafty scheme

craftily

ˈkraf-tə-lē 

adverb

craftiness

ˈkraf-tē-nəs 

noun

Synonyms

• artful
• beguiling
• cagey
• cagy
• cunning
• cute
• designing
• devious
• dodgy [chiefly British]
• foxy
• guileful
• scheming
• shrewd
• slick
• sly
• subtle
• tricky
• wily

Choose the Right Synonym for crafty

sly, cunning, crafty, wily, tricky, foxy, artful, slick mean attaining or seeking to attain one's ends by guileful or devious means.

sly implies furtiveness, lack of candor, and skill in concealing one's aims and methods.

a sly corporate raider

cunning suggests the inventive use of sometimes limited intelligence in overreaching or circumventing.

the cunning fox avoided the trap

crafty implies cleverness and subtlety of method.

a crafty lefthander

wily implies skill and deception in maneuvering.

the wily fugitive escaped the posse

tricky is more likely to suggest shiftiness and unreliability than skill in deception and maneuvering.

a tricky political operative

foxy implies a shrewd and wary craftiness usually involving devious dealing.

a foxy publicity man planting stories

artful implies indirectness in dealing and often connotes sophistication or cleverness.

elicited the information by artful questioning

slick emphasizes smoothness and guile.

slick operators selling time-sharing

Examples of crafty in a Sentence

a crafty real estate broker who got people to sell their property at bargain prices

Recent Examples on the Web

And so their crafty new attacks send out links that direct to legitimate websites from a PC but to dangerous websites from a phone. —Zak Doffman, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2025

The crafty right-hander played for Boston in 2021 and was excellent for much of the campaign -- 3.46 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 52 innings through August -- before fading down the stretch as a heavy workload caught up to him. —Dakota Randall, Newsweek, 18 Feb. 2025

Leroy Garrett What to know: Devin Walker is one of the craftiest (and most entertaining) players in the last decade of Challenges, having ruffled the feathers of even the most intimidating players (see: Johnny Bananas). —Randall Colburn, EW.com, 31 Jan. 2025

Their other top highlight was Benoit getting in a fight, which may have been a crafty gambit to halt play while he was stuck on the ice during a long shift. —Nick Ashbourne, The Athletic, 7 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

see craft entry 1

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing crafty

• arty-crafty

Rhymes for crafty

• drafty

Kids Definition

crafty

adjective

ˈkraf-tē 

craftier; craftiest

: skillful at deceiving others

craftily

-tə-lē 

adverb

craftiness

-tē-nəs 

noun