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. 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.

2. Iris Murdoch:

   Art is the final cunning of the human soul which would rather do anything than face the gods.

3. Anuj Somany:

   A crafty wolf does not mind to find the support from the cunning foxes and rather enjoys only.

4. Lee Bates:

   He broke out of jail before. He is a cunning individual, no question about it, and a vicious individual. he can make friends easy. He's a master manipulator.

5. James Joyce:

   I will tell you what I will do and what I will not do. I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it call itself my home, my fatherland, or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defense the only arms I allow myself to use --silence, exile and cunning.

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