wily

adjective

ˈwī-lē 

wilier; wiliest

: full of wiles : crafty

a wily negotiator

wilily

ˈwī-lə-lē 

adverb

wiliness

ˈwī-lē-nəs 

noun

Synonyms

• artful
• beguiling
• cagey
• cagy
• crafty
• cunning
• cute
• designing
• devious
• dodgy [chiefly British]
• foxy
• guileful
• scheming
• shrewd
• slick
• sly
• subtle
• tricky

Choose the Right Synonym for wily

sly, cunning, crafty, wily, tricky, foxy, artful, slick mean attaining or seeking to attain one's ends by guileful or devious means.

sly implies furtiveness, lack of candor, and skill in concealing one's aims and methods.

a sly corporate raider

cunning suggests the inventive use of sometimes limited intelligence in overreaching or circumventing.

the cunning fox avoided the trap

crafty implies cleverness and subtlety of method.

a crafty lefthander

wily implies skill and deception in maneuvering.

the wily fugitive escaped the posse

tricky is more likely to suggest shiftiness and unreliability than skill in deception and maneuvering.

a tricky political operative

foxy implies a shrewd and wary craftiness usually involving devious dealing.

a foxy publicity man planting stories

artful implies indirectness in dealing and often connotes sophistication or cleverness.

elicited the information by artful questioning

slick emphasizes smoothness and guile.

slick operators selling time-sharing

Examples of wily in a Sentence

She turned out to be a wily negotiator.

a wily judge of character, she takes advantage of car buyers' insecurities to sell them a bigger machine than they really need

Recent Examples on the Web

These waters are teeming with life, and while larger species may draw more attention, this wily little fish occupies its own unique niche. —Scott Travers, Forbes, 19 Oct. 2024

Others claim that the storms are instruments in a wily scheme against conservative voters, and that left-wing politicians have deviously chosen to unleash them just weeks from a dead-heat presidential election. —Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 12 Oct. 2024

The hapless Wallace and his wily hound Gromit cross paths with an errant gnome in Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. —Antonia Blyth, Deadline, 12 Oct. 2024

Because the wily Canadian did one of the hardest things in all of Survivor — getting two people who absolutely HATE each other and really, really wanted to vote each other out to instead combine their powers like the mighty Wonder Twins and actually work together. —Dalton Ross, EW.com, 10 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

wily

adjective

ˈwī-lē 

wilier; wiliest

: full of deceit : tricky

a wily opponent

wiliness noun