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Source: gcide
Cunning \Cun"ning\ (k[u^]n"n[i^]ng), a. [AS. cunnan to know, to
be able. See 1st {Con}, {Can}.]

1. Knowing; skillful; dexterous. "A cunning workman." -- Ex.
xxxviii. 23.

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"Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white
Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on. --Shak.

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Esau was a cunning hunter. --Gen xxv. 27.

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2. Wrought with, or exhibiting, skill or ingenuity;
ingenious; curious; as, cunning work.

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Over them Arachne high did lift

Her cunning web. --Spenser.

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3. Crafty; sly; artful; designing; deceitful.

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They are resolved to be cunning; let others run the
hazard of being sincere. --South.

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4. Pretty or pleasing; as, a cunning little boy. [Colloq.
U.S.]
--Barlett.

Syn: {Cunning}, {Artful}, {Sly}, {Wily}, {Crafty}.

Usage: These epithets agree in expressing an aptitude for
attaining some end by peculiar and secret means.
Cunning is usually low; as, a cunning trick. Artful is
more ingenious and inventive; as, an artful device.
Sly implies a turn for what is double or concealed;
as, sly humor; a sly evasion. Crafty denotes a talent
for dexterously deceiving; as, a crafty manager. Wily
describes a talent for the use of stratagems; as, a
wily politician. A cunning man often shows his
dexterity in simply concealing. An artful man goes
further, and exerts his ingenuity in misleading. A
crafty man mingles cunning with art, and so shapes his
actions as to lull suspicions. The young may be
cunning, but the experienced only can be crafty.
Slyness is a vulgar kind of cunning; the sly man goes
cautiously and silently to work. Wiliness is a species
of cunning or craft applicable only to cases of attack
and defense." --Crabb.

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Source: gcide
Cunning \Cun"ning\, n. [AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi
knowledge. See {Cunning}, a.]

1. Knowledge; art; skill; dexterity. [Archaic]

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Let my right hand forget her cunning. --Ps. cxxxvii.
5.

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A carpenter's desert
Stands more in cunning than in power. --Chapman.

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2. The faculty or act of using stratagem to accomplish a
purpose; fraudulent skill or dexterity; deceit; craft.

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Discourage cunning in a child; cunning is the ape of
wisdom. --Locke.

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We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom.
--Bacon.

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Source: wn
cunning
adj 1: attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or
quaintness; "a cute kid with pigtails"; "a cute little
apartment"; "cunning kittens"; "a cunning baby" [syn:
{cute}]

2: 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 Dik"; "a
wily old attorney" [syn: {crafty}, {dodgy}, {foxy}, {guileful},
{knavish}, {slick}, {sly}, {tricksy}, {tricky}, {wily}]

3: showing inventiveness and skill; "a clever gadget"; "the
cunning maneuvers leading to his success"; "an ingenious
solution to the problem" [syn: {clever}, {ingenious}]
n 1: shrewdness in deception; "as cunning as a fox"
2: shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
[syn: {craft}, {craftiness}, {foxiness}, {guile}, {slyness},
{wiliness}]

3: drafty artfulness (especially in deception)

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Source: moby thes
254 Moby Thesaurus words for "cunning":
Byzantine, Daedalian, Machiavellian, Machiavellianism,
Machiavellic, ability, acute, address, adept, adeptness, adroit,
adroitness, agility, airmanship, ambidexterity, ambidextrous,
animal cunning, apt, arch, art, artful, artfulness, artifice,
artisanship, artistic, artistry, astute, authoritative, bad faith,
bravura, brilliance, brilliant, cagey, cageyness, calculating,
canniness, canny, capability, capacity, chiseling, clean, clever,
cleverness, collusive, command, competence, control, coordinated,
coordination, covinous, crack, crackerjack, craft, craftiness,
craftsmanship, crafty, crooked, cunning, cunningness, cute, daedal,
dainty, deceit, deceitful, deceitfulness, deep, deep-laid, deft,
deftness, delicate, designing, devious, deviousness, dexterity,
dexterous, dexterousness, dextrous, dextrousness, diplomacy,
diplomatic, dishonest, dishonesty, dissemblance, dissimulation,
double, double-dealing, double-faced, double-minded,
double-tongued, doublehearted, doubleness, doubleness of heart,
duplicitous, duplicity, efficiency, excellent, expert, expertise,
expertness, facility, faithless, faithlessness, false,
false-principled, falsehearted, falseheartedness, falseness, fancy,
feline, finagling, finesse, foxiness, foxy, fraudulent, furtive,
furtiveness, good, goodish, grace, graceful, grip, guile, guileful,
guilefulness, handiness, handy, horsemanship, hypocrisy, improbity,
indirect, indirection, ingenious, ingeniousness, ingenuity,
insidious, insidiousness, inventive, keen, know-how, knowing,
low cunning, magisterial, marksmanship, masterful, masterly,
mastership, mastery, mignon, neat, no mean, pawkiness, pawky,
perfidious, politic, practical ability, professional, proficiency,
proficient, prowess, quick, quickness, quite some, readiness,
ready, resource, resourceful, resourcefulness, satanic cunning,
savoir-faire, savvy, scheming, seamanship, serpentine, sharp,
sharpness, shiftiness, shifty, shrewd, shrewdness, skill, skillful,
skillfulness, slick, slickness, slim, slippery, sly, slyness,
smart, smooth, snaky, sneak attack, sneakiness, sneaky, some,
sophistical, statesmanlike, stealthy, strategic, style, stylish,
subtile, subtility, subtilty, subtle, subtlety, supple,
surreptitious, surreptitiousness, tact, tactful, tactfulness,
tactical, technical brilliance, technical mastery, technical skill,
technique, the compleat, the complete, timing, treacherous,
treacherousness, treachery, trickiness, trickish, tricksy, tricky,
two-faced, two-facedness, underhand, underhanded, underhandedness,
virtuosity, virtuoso, vulpine, wary, well-considered,
well-contrived, well-designed, well-devised, well-done,
well-invented, well-laid, well-planned, well-reasoned,
well-thought-out, well-weighed, wile, wiliness, wily, wit,
wizardry, workmanlike, workmanship


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Source: devils
CUNNING, n.  The faculty that distinguishes a weak animal or person
from a strong one. It brings its possessor much mental satisfaction
and great material adversity. An Italian proverb says: "The furrier
gets the skins of more foxes than asses."


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Similar Terms

TermsCountDB
cunt9706trans
cuneiform1281eng-ara
cunningly629trans
cunnilingus551!
cuniculus505trans
cunner413!
cun391trans
cuneal391*
cuneate391*
cunningness389gcide
cunabula319!
cunila mariana317trans
cunnilinctus299!
cuneated245*
cuniculus torquatus235!
cuniculus paca223wn
cunctation211*
cunctator187!
cuneus171*


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