| 释义 |
Definition of cunning in English: cunningadjective ˈkʌnɪŋˈkənɪŋ 1Having or showing skill in achieving one's ends by deceit or evasion. a cunning look came into his eyes Example sentencesExamples - He is full of charm when he gets his way, full of menace when he does not, unscrupulous, cunning and deceitful.
- First, it has to be said that the game scenario is a very cunning one, cleverly designed to lead the unsuspecting player astray.
- I'm very suspicious of websites that confront you with bells and whistles and all manner of cunning design.
- She's a cunning manipulator one moment, an adorably guileless charmer the next, one who tosses off winsome smiles like strike-zone fastballs.
- He raised £10 million in less than a month, thanks to a particularly cunning manoeuvre: he invented a deadline.
- They are very cunning and very devious.
- They had to endear themselves both to the other people in the house and to the nation at large, and so we became voyeurs into their most cunning manipulations and most private moments.
- The truth is, though, sometimes spies really do resort to cunning disguises and hidden cameras.
- He was supposedly a cunning manipulator who lured his adversary into a fatal trap.
- Unfortunately, the laptop didn't fall for their cunning ruse.
- What remains is a traditional case of a national paranoia being manipulated by a cunning business establishment to protect its entrenched interests.
- Now, even if these are just sneaky sites by cunning marketers, they're working.
- The lies he fed me to achieve this were cunning and elaborate, and indeed, I was fooled.
- Observations suggest they try a cunning psychological ploy to prevent their partner fleeing the nest.
- You've been tricked, the defamation of this cunning flower tricked you.
- Fortunately, in an effort to cheer myself up, I've devised a fiendish and cunning plan to turn myself into a local celebrity.
- He subsequently discovers the whereabouts of the photograph by a cunning ruse.
- Far from being instinct-driven dunces held back by a three-second memory, fish were cunning, manipulative, cultured and socially aware.
- So that was a very cunning ploy that she used.
- But can the governments really have been to blame for inducing irrational exuberance in the bidders through the fiendishly cunning auction processes they devised?
Synonyms crafty, wily, artful, guileful, devious, sly, knowing, scheming, designing, tricky, slippery, slick, manipulative, Machiavellian, deceitful, deceptive, duplicitous, Janus-faced shrewd, astute, clever, canny, sharp, sharp-witted, skilful, ingenious, resourceful, inventive, imaginative, deft, adroit, dexterous informal foxy, savvy, fiendish, sneaky British informal fly Scottish & Northern English informal pawky South African informal slim archaic subtle rare vulpine, carny - 1.1 Ingenious.
plants have evolved cunning defences Example sentencesExamples - John would see my brilliant tactical plan and organize a cunning defence…
- Tom however, through cunning reasoning skills, is able to get what he needs.
- It's a cunning skill, even more so as you can reverse the stroke in order to go backwards.
- A little cunning skill is obviously useful, and luck is a vital ingredient that I like to enjoy in large measure.
- Today's aggressor is cunning, ingenious, pragmatic, and at the same time not limited by any moral constraints.
- This year the ingenious Councillor has thought up a cunning plan that will see the town's streets swept clean of dog dirt.
- I listened intently, for he was right, his plans were very cunning.
- That's right, not only is it my birthday today but by a piece of cunning design today is also the day we complete on our new home.
- He is a very ingenious and cunning writer and it's fun to see him skewer the targets he aims for with acerbic wit and intelligence.
- More than once he bailed his master out of dangerous situation not by using force, but cunning tricks.
- After all, when it comes to cunning stunts, we may have a natural advantage.
Synonyms ingenious, clever, skilful, adroit, crafty, wily, artful, devious
2North American Attractive or quaint. Baby will look too cunning for anything in that pink print Example sentencesExamples - She looked so cunning with her dark green cloak setting off her green eyes.
Synonyms picturesque, charming, sweet, attractive, pleasantly old-fashioned, old-fashioned, old-world, toytown
noun ˈkʌnɪŋˈkənɪŋ mass noun1Skill in achieving one's ends by deceit. a statesman to whom cunning had come as second nature Example sentencesExamples - For bridge, all you need is a playing partner, a pair of opponents, a set of cards - and a capacity for wicked, devious cunning.
- If they had any skills other than devious animal cunning, they would have looked closer at the boy.
- And to survive you have to negotiate it with all the cunning of a fox.
- There was no doubt that they would be able to intercept the fugitives, but it would take skill and cunning and not a little luck to close the jaws and trap the prey between them.
- This was their big chance, so why not employ a bit of cunning to achieve it?
- Imagine the tenacity, the motor skills, the sheer reptile cunning involved.
- The first embraces trickery and cunning, the second embraces manipulation and deception, with no lie being too great, no friendship not worth betraying.
- She seemed so innocent, her previous deviousness and cunning gone in a flash.
- But the longer the half wore on the sense a tad more craft, guile or cunning was needed to break through the formidable and sizeable Shrewsbury defence grew and grew.
- She showed no weakness, instead attaining her goals through cunning, skill, and brutality.
- They will send hunters to trap me or bring me down, but all will fall to my clever traps and animal cunning.
- In fact, Houdini relied on great skill, low cunning, and keeping tiny metal picklocks concealed about his person.
- The precise techniques of the hunt have varied, but until recent years the principle virtues of falconry remained constant: patience and cunning.
- The directness of the message, which is somewhat bluntly conveyed, is a somewhat disappointing end to an extraordinary novel that is full of subtlety and cunning.
- Only with the cunning of the fox can you extricate yourself from these grim precincts.
- They start becoming cunning, cruel, diplomatic, political.
- The ward bosses' unanticipated about-face was not motivated by conversion but cunning and deceit that cynically betrayed public trust.
- Having determined on murder, he then planned the crime - normally a poisoning - with the utmost cunning, only to be undone by some small unforeseen error.
- We should be working these refs with wily cunning.
- These are two young bucks full of guile and cunning, mobile and versatile in the modern fashion and eager to wreak havoc with Dutch organisation.
Synonyms guile, craftiness, wiliness, artfulness, deviousness, slyness, trickery, trickiness, duplicity, deceitfulness, deceit, chicanery shrewdness, astuteness, cleverness, canniness, sharpness, ingenuity, resourcefulness, inventiveness, imagination, deftness, adroitness, dexterity, dexterousness wiles, ploys, schemes, stratagems, tactics, manoeuvres, subterfuges, tricks, ruses informal foxiness - 1.1 Ingenuity.
what resources of energy and cunning it took just to survive Example sentencesExamples - The latter confronts Wilde with the logic and cunning of his profession.
- Apparently he likes to maintain the illusion that there is some great political cunning at work, that his selections reveal his innate ability to foresee problems and win seats.
- The audience is tempted to appropriate the position within the play it believes possesses the most cunning and insight into the play itself.
- Rommel was supposed to have gained victory over the British through his superior military skills and cunning.
- His eyes showed an intelligence and cunning totally at odds with his grandfatherly appearance.
- What he may lack in finesse or cunning, he makes up for in raw firepower.
- Even though she doesn't invent what she does, she has the cunning and intelligence to pick up on other people's style so immediately that it's like she thought of it.
- This time she must seem the forlorn victim, with no resources of sinew or cunning to save her - only the kindness of strangers.
- Here he personifies folk cunning, good humour and common sense.
- On the other hand, no computer could match human cunning, which was different from mere intelligence.
- This is considered the purest form of Poker - where more often than not, but not always, skill and cunning overcomes opportunism.
- Perhaps you will forgive me replying to the contention that animal cunning will be overtaken by human ingenuity.
- Thus far, she had failed to show him either skill or cunning.
- The monk's legendary alter ego was a rebel against his feudal leaders, fighting with supernatural strength, cunning, and skills.
- His pale blue eyes, sparkling with intelligence and cunning, caught my gaze and held it steadily.
- The story is narrated by the chieftain's second son, widely regarded as an ‘idiot’ but possessing both wisdom and cunning.
- And while the common law judges, with the prestige, wealth and cunning of the national government behind them, were ascendant forces, they had to tread rather softly.
- He's otherwise dull, demonstrating few signs of intelligence or cunning.
Synonyms shrewdness, astuteness, sharp-wittedness, sharpness, acuteness, acumen, acuity, intelligence
Derivatives noun He tested his learning and cunningness till people called him intelligent and brave; he tested his cowardice and brutality till he could kill and die at the drop of a penny; he tested his mind till he could argue anything and everything. Example sentencesExamples - He sources goals with a cunningness sharper than his tender years give a right to expect, but away from the field struggles to suppress the inner child as ably as he does on it.
- But the wiles he shows, the cunningness he exhibits and opportunism that he cashes on made him a hit.
- She loathes cunningness, and thinks a cunning person is definitely dishonest.
- It would take but a mere glimpse of cunningness.
Origin Middle English: perhaps from Old Norse kunnandi 'knowledge', from kunna 'know' (related to can1), or perhaps from Middle English cunne, an obsolete variant of can1. The original sense was '(possessing) erudition or skill' and had no implication of deceit; the sense 'deceitfulness' dates from late Middle English. If you described someone as cunning in the Middle Ages you meant they were skilful or learned—there was no implication of slyness or deceit. The word probably comes from Old Norse kunnandi ‘knowledge’, from kunna ‘to know’, which is related to the verb can (Old English). Witches and wizards used to be known as ‘cunning women’ and ‘cunning men’, from an old sense of the word ‘possessing magical knowledge or skill’.
Definition of cunning in US English: cunningadjectiveˈkənɪŋˈkəniNG 1Having or showing skill in achieving one's ends by deceit or evasion. a cunning look came into his eyes Example sentencesExamples - Fortunately, in an effort to cheer myself up, I've devised a fiendish and cunning plan to turn myself into a local celebrity.
- She's a cunning manipulator one moment, an adorably guileless charmer the next, one who tosses off winsome smiles like strike-zone fastballs.
- He subsequently discovers the whereabouts of the photograph by a cunning ruse.
- But can the governments really have been to blame for inducing irrational exuberance in the bidders through the fiendishly cunning auction processes they devised?
- The truth is, though, sometimes spies really do resort to cunning disguises and hidden cameras.
- Observations suggest they try a cunning psychological ploy to prevent their partner fleeing the nest.
- Unfortunately, the laptop didn't fall for their cunning ruse.
- They are very cunning and very devious.
- He raised £10 million in less than a month, thanks to a particularly cunning manoeuvre: he invented a deadline.
- The lies he fed me to achieve this were cunning and elaborate, and indeed, I was fooled.
- They had to endear themselves both to the other people in the house and to the nation at large, and so we became voyeurs into their most cunning manipulations and most private moments.
- Now, even if these are just sneaky sites by cunning marketers, they're working.
- He is full of charm when he gets his way, full of menace when he does not, unscrupulous, cunning and deceitful.
- So that was a very cunning ploy that she used.
- You've been tricked, the defamation of this cunning flower tricked you.
- What remains is a traditional case of a national paranoia being manipulated by a cunning business establishment to protect its entrenched interests.
- First, it has to be said that the game scenario is a very cunning one, cleverly designed to lead the unsuspecting player astray.
- Far from being instinct-driven dunces held back by a three-second memory, fish were cunning, manipulative, cultured and socially aware.
- He was supposedly a cunning manipulator who lured his adversary into a fatal trap.
- I'm very suspicious of websites that confront you with bells and whistles and all manner of cunning design.
Synonyms crafty, wily, artful, guileful, devious, sly, knowing, scheming, designing, tricky, slippery, slick, manipulative, machiavellian, deceitful, deceptive, duplicitous, janus-faced - 1.1 Ingenious.
plants have evolved cunning defenses Example sentencesExamples - This year the ingenious Councillor has thought up a cunning plan that will see the town's streets swept clean of dog dirt.
- More than once he bailed his master out of dangerous situation not by using force, but cunning tricks.
- He is a very ingenious and cunning writer and it's fun to see him skewer the targets he aims for with acerbic wit and intelligence.
- It's a cunning skill, even more so as you can reverse the stroke in order to go backwards.
- That's right, not only is it my birthday today but by a piece of cunning design today is also the day we complete on our new home.
- John would see my brilliant tactical plan and organize a cunning defence…
- A little cunning skill is obviously useful, and luck is a vital ingredient that I like to enjoy in large measure.
- Tom however, through cunning reasoning skills, is able to get what he needs.
- I listened intently, for he was right, his plans were very cunning.
- Today's aggressor is cunning, ingenious, pragmatic, and at the same time not limited by any moral constraints.
- After all, when it comes to cunning stunts, we may have a natural advantage.
Synonyms ingenious, clever, skilful, adroit, crafty, wily, artful, devious
2North American Attractive or quaint. the baby will look cunning in that pink print Example sentencesExamples - She looked so cunning with her dark green cloak setting off her green eyes.
Synonyms picturesque, charming, sweet, attractive, pleasantly old-fashioned, old-fashioned, old-world, toytown
nounˈkənɪŋˈkəniNG 1Skill in achieving one's ends by deceit. a statesman to whom cunning had come as second nature Example sentencesExamples - But the longer the half wore on the sense a tad more craft, guile or cunning was needed to break through the formidable and sizeable Shrewsbury defence grew and grew.
- For bridge, all you need is a playing partner, a pair of opponents, a set of cards - and a capacity for wicked, devious cunning.
- And to survive you have to negotiate it with all the cunning of a fox.
- These are two young bucks full of guile and cunning, mobile and versatile in the modern fashion and eager to wreak havoc with Dutch organisation.
- The precise techniques of the hunt have varied, but until recent years the principle virtues of falconry remained constant: patience and cunning.
- The first embraces trickery and cunning, the second embraces manipulation and deception, with no lie being too great, no friendship not worth betraying.
- They will send hunters to trap me or bring me down, but all will fall to my clever traps and animal cunning.
- In fact, Houdini relied on great skill, low cunning, and keeping tiny metal picklocks concealed about his person.
- Imagine the tenacity, the motor skills, the sheer reptile cunning involved.
- She seemed so innocent, her previous deviousness and cunning gone in a flash.
- The directness of the message, which is somewhat bluntly conveyed, is a somewhat disappointing end to an extraordinary novel that is full of subtlety and cunning.
- If they had any skills other than devious animal cunning, they would have looked closer at the boy.
- They start becoming cunning, cruel, diplomatic, political.
- This was their big chance, so why not employ a bit of cunning to achieve it?
- We should be working these refs with wily cunning.
- The ward bosses' unanticipated about-face was not motivated by conversion but cunning and deceit that cynically betrayed public trust.
- She showed no weakness, instead attaining her goals through cunning, skill, and brutality.
- Having determined on murder, he then planned the crime - normally a poisoning - with the utmost cunning, only to be undone by some small unforeseen error.
- Only with the cunning of the fox can you extricate yourself from these grim precincts.
- There was no doubt that they would be able to intercept the fugitives, but it would take skill and cunning and not a little luck to close the jaws and trap the prey between them.
Synonyms guile, craftiness, wiliness, artfulness, deviousness, slyness, trickery, trickiness, duplicity, deceitfulness, deceit, chicanery - 1.1 Ingenuity.
what resources of energy and cunning it took just to survive Example sentencesExamples - Apparently he likes to maintain the illusion that there is some great political cunning at work, that his selections reveal his innate ability to foresee problems and win seats.
- He's otherwise dull, demonstrating few signs of intelligence or cunning.
- His pale blue eyes, sparkling with intelligence and cunning, caught my gaze and held it steadily.
- Perhaps you will forgive me replying to the contention that animal cunning will be overtaken by human ingenuity.
- Even though she doesn't invent what she does, she has the cunning and intelligence to pick up on other people's style so immediately that it's like she thought of it.
- This time she must seem the forlorn victim, with no resources of sinew or cunning to save her - only the kindness of strangers.
- On the other hand, no computer could match human cunning, which was different from mere intelligence.
- The monk's legendary alter ego was a rebel against his feudal leaders, fighting with supernatural strength, cunning, and skills.
- His eyes showed an intelligence and cunning totally at odds with his grandfatherly appearance.
- Here he personifies folk cunning, good humour and common sense.
- The latter confronts Wilde with the logic and cunning of his profession.
- What he may lack in finesse or cunning, he makes up for in raw firepower.
- The audience is tempted to appropriate the position within the play it believes possesses the most cunning and insight into the play itself.
- This is considered the purest form of Poker - where more often than not, but not always, skill and cunning overcomes opportunism.
- Rommel was supposed to have gained victory over the British through his superior military skills and cunning.
- And while the common law judges, with the prestige, wealth and cunning of the national government behind them, were ascendant forces, they had to tread rather softly.
- Thus far, she had failed to show him either skill or cunning.
- The story is narrated by the chieftain's second son, widely regarded as an ‘idiot’ but possessing both wisdom and cunning.
Synonyms shrewdness, astuteness, sharp-wittedness, sharpness, acuteness, acumen, acuity, intelligence
Origin Middle English: perhaps from Old Norse kunnandi ‘knowledge’, from kunna ‘know’ (related to can), or perhaps from Middle English cunne, an obsolete variant of can. The original sense was ‘(possessing) erudition or skill’ and had no implication of deceit; the sense ‘deceitfulness’ dates from late Middle English. |