Definitions for cunning
ˈkʌn ɪŋcun·ning

Princeton's WordNet(2.80 / 5 votes)Rate this definition:

1. craft, craftiness, cunning, foxiness, guile, slyness, wiliness(noun)

   shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception

2. cunning(adj)

   crafty artfulness (especially in deception)

3. cunning, cute(adj)

   attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness

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

4. crafty, cunning, dodgy, foxy, guileful, knavish, slick, sly, tricksy, tricky, wily(adj)

   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"

5. clever, cunning, ingenious(adj)

   showing inventiveness and skill

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

Webster Dictionary(4.50 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Cunning(adj)

   knowing; skillful; dexterous

   Etymology: [AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi knowledge. See Cunning, a.]

2. Cunning(adj)

   wrought with, or exhibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious; curious; as, cunning work

   Etymology: [AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi knowledge. See Cunning, a.]

3. Cunning(adj)

   crafty; sly; artful; designing; deceitful

   Etymology: [AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi knowledge. See Cunning, a.]

4. Cunning(adj)

   pretty or pleasing; as, a cunning little boy

   Etymology: [AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi knowledge. See Cunning, a.]

5. Cunning(adj)

   knowledge; art; skill; dexterity

   Etymology: [AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi knowledge. See Cunning, a.]

6. Cunning(adj)

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

   Etymology: [AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi knowledge. See Cunning, a.]

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Cunning

   Cunning was a Japanese comedy duo from Fukuoka Prefecture. Cunning consisted of the pudgy, short-tempered Takanori Takeyama, and the rail-thin Tadayuki Nakashima. Known for his bursts of extreme anger, though said to be much more sedated off-camera, Takeyama is the boke of the unit. The tsukkomi, Nakashima, fell ill with leukemia in 2005 and took indefinite leave from work until his death from pneumonia on December 20, 2006, aged 35. The name of the duo, cunning, while meaning "sly" or "clever" in English, refers to the act of cheating on a test in Japanese.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Cunning

   kun′ing, adj. knowing: skilful: artful: crafty.—n. knowledge: skill: faculty of using stratagem to accomplish a purpose: artifice.—adv. Cunn′ingly.—n. Cunn′ingness, quality of being cunning: artfulness, slyness. [A.S. cunnan, to know.]

Editors Contribution(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. cunning

   crafty

   Submitted by raulesparza6634 on September 23, 2019  

How to pronounce cunning?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say cunning in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of cunning in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of cunning in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of cunning in a Sentence

1. Lee Bates:

   He is a very cunning and dangerous individual.

2. Anuj Somany:

   A person's thought can not be crafty, cunning and clever unless and until there is a slot of selfishness in the soul and the clot of ego in the heart to distort or rot his/her mind.

3. Martin Terman:

   In the Norse mythology Loki originally was on the side of the rest of the gods, helping them once or twice using a particularly nast forms of trickery. He was a cunning negotiator with a talent for technicalities. He was sort of the Norse equivalent of a lawyer, no doubt the reason they tied him down in a pit dripping acidic venom on him.

4. Metastasio:

   He who devises evil for another falls at last into his own pit, and the most cunning finds himself caught by what he had prepared for another. But virtue without guile, erect like the lofty palm, rises with greater vigour when it is oppressed.

5. Anuj Somany:

   In a world full of wolves, a person with a faithful quality of dog is often ignored by the people whereas the unreliable ones remain regularly surrounded by their so-called friends who have a quality of selfish & cunning foxes.

Images & Illustrations of cunning

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