Antonyms for cunning
ˈkʌn ɪŋcun·ning

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. cunning

   A contrivance or device may be either good or bad. A cheat is a mean advantage in a bargain; a fraud, any form of covert robbery or injury. Imposture is a deceitful contrivance for securing charity, credit, or consideration. A stratagem or maneuver may be of the good against the bad, as it were a skilful movement of war. A wile is usually but not necessarily evil.

   E'en children followed with endearing wile.

   Goldsmith Deserted Village, l. 184.

   A trick is often low, injurious, and malicious; we say a mean trick; the word is sometimes used playfully with less than its full meaning. A ruse or a blind may be quite innocent and harmless. An artifice is a carefully and delicately prepared contrivance for doing indirectly what one could not well do directly. A device is something studied out for promoting an end, as in a mechanism; the word is used of indirect action, often, but not necessarily directed to an evil, selfish, or injurious end. Finesse is especially subtle contrivance, delicate artifice, whether for good or evil. Compare FRAUD.

   Antonyms:
   artlessness, candor, fairness, frankness, guilelessness, honesty, ingenuousness, innocence, openness, simplicity, sincerity, truth

   Synonyms:
   art, artifice, blind, cheat, contrivance, craft, device, dodge, finesse, fraud, guile, imposture, invention, machination, maneuver, ruse, stratagem, subterfuge, trick, wile

Matched Categories

1. • Shrewdness

Princeton's WordNetRate these antonyms:4.2 / 6 votes

1. craft, craftiness, cunning, foxiness, guile, slyness, wilinessnoun

   shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception

   Antonyms:
   unattractive, artless, maladroit

   Synonyms:
   foxiness, chicanery, workmanship, shenanigan, slyness, craftiness, wiliness, trickery, chicane, craftsmanship, trade, craft, deceitfulness, wile, guile

2. cunningadjective

   crafty artfulness (especially in deception)

   Antonyms:
   maladroit, unattractive, artless

   Synonyms:
   guile, craftiness, foxiness, wiliness, slyness, craft

3. cunning, cuteadjective

   attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness

   "a cute kid with pigtails"; "a cute little apartment"; "cunning kittens"; "a cunning baby"

   Antonyms:
   artless, unattractive, maladroit

   Synonyms:
   tricky, dodgy, clever, knavish, ingenious, sly, cute, guileful, wily, foxy, crafty, slick, tricksy, precious

4. crafty, cunning, dodgy, foxy, guileful, knavish, slick, sly, tricksy, tricky, wilyadjective

   marked by skill in deception

   "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"

   Antonyms:
   unattractive, maladroit, artless

   Synonyms:
   tricksy, slippery, silky, clever, dicey, slick, sly, cute, satiny, chancy, sleek, catchy, ingenious, chanceful, pat, crafty, silklike, wily, guileful, knavish, dodgy, silken, glib, tricky, foxy

5. clever, cunning, ingeniousadjective

   showing inventiveness and skill

   "a clever gadget"; "the cunning maneuvers leading to his success"; "an ingenious solution to the problem"

   Antonyms:
   unattractive, maladroit, artless

   Synonyms:
   tricksy, canny, clever, cagy, slick, sly, cute, cagey, wily, apt, ingenious, knavish, crafty, guileful, dodgy, tricky, foxy

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. cunningadjective

   Synonyms:
   artful, crafty, sly, wily, arch, designing, deceitful, intriguing, curious, ingenious, skillful, dexterous

2. cunningnoun

   Synonyms:
   craft, deceit, craftiness, subtlety, wiliness

How to use cunning in a sentence?

1. Samuel Johnson:

   Every man wishes to be wise, and they who cannot be wise are almost always cunning.

2. Thomas Paine:

   Those words, temperate and moderate, are words either of political cowardice, or of cunning, or seduction. A thing, moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; but moderation in principle, is a species of vice.

3. A. E. Housman:

   In every American there is an air of incorrigible innocence, which seems to conceal a diabolical cunning.

4. Chris Tucker:

   He was really smart and he was cunning at times, and his brother . . . was definitely cunning.

5. James Bergenn:

   The person who is cunning enough to take his own life without anyone predicting it is more likely someone who acted on his own, so prosecutors have some thinking to do about others who sat down with the prosecutors and gave their information.

How to pronounce cunning?

How to say cunning in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency