guileful

adjective

Definition of guilefulnext
1
as in cunning
clever at attaining one's ends by indirect and often deceptive means tried to fix the game with a guileful plot to sabotage the other team's bats, but the umpire caught them

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in deceptive
given to or marked by cheating and deception received a guileful answer when I asked the dealer if the used car had ever been in a collision

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for guileful
  1. cunning
  2. deceptive
  3. cute
  4. fraudulent
  5. subtle
  6. shady
  7. crooked
  8. dishonest
Adjective
  • Black Friday had become a competitive event requiring planning and cunning to get the good deals first.
    Mary Meehan, Forbes, 10 Jan. 2025
  • Finding other disease-causing somatic mutations in rheumatology and related specialties will take skill, cunning, and a willingness to test cells and organs throughout the body.
    Jason Liebowitz, The Atlantic, 2 Jan. 2025
Definition of cunning
Adjective
  • The Franklin County and River Valley Coalition recently accused officials of the Arkansas Development Finance Authority and a division of the building authority of being deceptive and called for an investigation.
    Alex Golden, Axios, 6 Jan. 2025
  • Penelope in the Odyssey says that dreams that pass through the gate of ivory are deceptive, while those that pass through the gate of horn are real.
    Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 4 Jan. 2025
Definition of deceptive
Adjective
  • The kids were very cute & the crates were very broken.
    Tommy Tuberville, Newsweek, 8 Jan. 2025
  • In the coach’s fourth season, the Dolphins need to get less cute and tougher on the ground.
    Josh Kendall, The Athletic, 7 Jan. 2025
Definition of cute
Adjective
  • There are new procedural rules in place in the aftermath of what happened four years ago, when Republicans parroting Trump’s lie that the election was fraudulent challenged the results their own states had certified.
    LISA MASCARO, MARY CLARE JALONICK, TIME, 6 Jan. 2025
  • Faraji, who stopped working at Fox after Undisputed's cancellation in August 2024, is also suing the company for failure to pay minimum wages, failure to pay overtime wages, unfair unlawful or fraudulent business practices and more under the class action complaint.
    Becca Longmire, People.com, 6 Jan. 2025
Definition of fraudulent
Adjective
  • But planet-scale warming is probably affecting weather basically every day, even if the impacts are subtle.
    Alejandra Borunda, NPR, 13 Jan. 2025
  • Cacio e pepe, with its Parmesan and black pepper, is more subtle.
    Lauryn Azu, Chicago Tribune, 13 Jan. 2025
Definition of subtle
Adjective
  • And Mark, in turn, begins to suspect that something shady is happening at Lumon.
    Eliana Dockterman, TIME, 15 Jan. 2025
  • Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach Offers Balinese Culture in Every Sip at Tree Bar At Tree Bar at Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach enjoy a beverage under the shady embrace of the iconic Pohon Pole tree.
    Sandra MacGregor, Forbes, 14 Jan. 2025
Definition of shady
Adjective
  • And though a second, thick stucco layer with bits of cork was an insulation novelty imported from Italy, its properties meant that the walls could remain authentically crooked.
    Julie Lasky, New York Times, 10 Jan. 2025
  • What he’s actually done is fake his death to create a template for a new life by stealing $90 million from a client of his crooked law firm.
    Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 8 Jan. 2025
Definition of crooked
Adjective
  • Growing shares in each party describe those in the other party as more closed-minded, dishonest, immoral and unintelligent than other Americans.
    NBC News, NBC News, 22 Dec. 2024
  • The police department says the most recent investigation showed Cpt. Danita Pettis was dishonest, entered false payroll information, and was insubordinate.
    Sharon Coolidge, Cincinnati Enquirer, 12 Dec. 2024
Definition of dishonest
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Thesaurus Entries Near guileful

guile

guileful

guilefulness

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Cite this Entry

“Guileful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/guileful. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.

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Britannica English: Translation of guileful for Arabic Speakers

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