wily

adjective

ˈwī-lē 

wilier; wiliest

: full of wiles : crafty

a wily negotiator

wilily

ˈwī-lə-lē 

adverb

wiliness

ˈwī-lē-nəs 

noun

Synonyms

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

Choose the Right Synonym for wily

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 wily in a Sentence

She turned out to be a wily negotiator.

a wily judge of character, she takes advantage of car buyers' insecurities to sell them a bigger machine than they really need

Recent Examples on the Web

Set in the world of tabloid journalism, the Paparazzo follows an opportunistic outcast who needs fast cash to help his ailing mother and decides to partner with a wily paparazzo. —Mia Galuppo, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Dec. 2024

Genghis Khan and his Silk Road Mongols, wily prospectors leading gold-rush donkeys, living tiki towers being climbed by monkeys. —Jonathan Rowe, SPIN, 18 Dec. 2024

The wily Canuck was practically invisible for the first three weeks of the season, a victim of far flashier payers (cough, Rome, cough) that commandeered all the camera time. —Dalton Ross, EW.com, 12 Dec. 2024

Their leader was said to be a particularly wily simian named Capone. —Greg Daugherty, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

wily

adjective

ˈwī-lē 

wilier; wiliest

: full of deceit : tricky

a wily opponent

wiliness noun