How to Use devious in a Sentence

devious

adjective
  • He took us by a devious route to the center of the city.
  • White spoke with me again to explain the wild finale and Stephen’s devious nature.
    Dana Feldman, Forbes, 16 Oct. 2024
  • Yet there's little-more devious than the increase in sextortion cases linked to the West African scammers.
    Matt Burgess, WIRED, 7 Sep. 2024
  • There’s certainly nothing helpless about Greta, who pirouettes with devious finesse into our dark, cold, tell-tale hearts.
    Nicholas Bell, SPIN, 4 Sep. 2024
  • As if to underline how emotions and relationships can make devious scheming more complicated, this week’s case — another good one!
    Noel Murray, Vulture, 31 Oct. 2024
  • The devising and devious edgelord can be chortling and laughing all the way to the bank.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes, 10 July 2022
  • The ways may be devious, but teenagers are adept at finding them.
    Anchorage Daily News, 15 Jan. 2018
  • Be sure to take lots of devious snacks with you from Hobart.
    Michaela Bechler, Vogue, 11 Dec. 2018
  • Just a hint of a smirk and perhaps a small twinkle in his eye as hints to his devious deed.
    Megan Ryan, Star Tribune, 17 Apr. 2021
  • The devious plan to keep us all hooked on heating and cooking with gas.
    Pat Saperstein, Variety, 5 Apr. 2022
  • Keep in mind though, 2020 has a devious sense of humor.
    Scott Springer, The Enquirer, 2 Sep. 2020
  • In the snapshot, the royal sports a gingham dress, dark clogs, and an adorably devious smile.
    Kayla Keegan, Good Housekeeping, 26 Nov. 2018
  • None of these can usurp the top position of that list from the devious aaloo methi.
    Quartz Staff, Quartz India, 26 Nov. 2019
  • Not in the literal sense, but rather a meddler, a planter of devious seeds.
    K. Austin Collins, Rolling Stone, 15 Jan. 2022
  • Hayward is a lot more devious than we at first thought.
    Erik Kain, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2021
  • And the strategic defeat inflicted by the U.S. in the most devious way.
    Daniel Strauss, The New Republic, 21 Sep. 2021
  • But the more devious challenge is keeping your mind focused on the finish line and not on the pain.
    Brandon T. Harden, Philly.com, 2 Mar. 2018
  • Those devious Judys convince Ben to try to make a woman fall in love with him in 10 days and then steer him toward Andie.
    Emma Specter, Vogue, 8 Feb. 2023
  • Who else can keep up with Matt's constant devious plans?
    Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 19 Dec. 2019
  • Likewise, don’t fret too much about your own devious urges.
    Erin Blakemore, Popular Science, 28 Sep. 2020
  • Week 666, evidence of work of the Devil: How devious is the Trickster!
    Pat Myers, Washington Post, 16 June 2022
  • These days the word rattlesnake is most likely to be applied to a crooked, devious person.
    National Geographic, 26 June 2016
  • These days the word rattlesnake is most likely to be applied to a crooked, devious person.
    National Geographic, 26 June 2016
  • Catherine set in motion a devious plan to lure the pretender princess to Russia.
    National Geographic, 6 Aug. 2019
  • With a new game in play, full of Jigsaw’s signature devious and deranged traps, the tables are now turned on the con artists.
    Carly Thomas, The Hollywood Reporter, 29 July 2023
  • But life, in this case a devious grandfather and a meddlesome mother, gets in the way of their true love.
    Ineye Komonibo, refinery29.com, 28 Sep. 2022
  • Mikkelsen voiced the character in Rebels' last two seasons, setting devious traps for the Ghost crew.
    Danny Horn, EW.com, 11 Aug. 2023
  • From annoying mashers to devious white slavers, danger lurked in the shadows of the city streets.
    Longreads, 10 Jan. 2018
  • Cohn, as a devious young lawyer, had been the protégé of Joe McCarthy, during the anti-Communist witch hunts of the fifties.
    David Remnick, The New Yorker, 17 May 2017
  • The app Alarmy has a truly devious workaround for this impulse.
    Audra Williams, Popular Science, 30 Oct. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'devious.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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