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cunning - 7 dictionary results
cun⋅ning
[kuhn-ing] 
–noun
| 1. | skill employed in a shrewd or sly manner, as in deceiving; craftiness; guile. |
| 2. | adeptness in performance; dexterity: The weaver's hand lost its cunning. |
–adjective
| 3. | showing or made with ingenuity. |
| 4. | artfully subtle or shrewd; crafty; sly. |
| 5. | Informal. charmingly cute or appealing: a cunning little baby. |
| 6. | Archaic. skillful; expert. |
–verb
| 7. | Obsolete. ppr. of can 1 . |
Origin:
1275–1325; (n.) ME; OE cunnung, equiv. to cunn(an) to know (see can 1 ) + -ung -ing 1 ; (adj., v.) ME, prp. of cunnan to know (see can 1 , -ing 2 )
1275–1325; (n.) ME; OE cunnung, equiv. to cunn(an) to know (see can 1 ) + -ung -ing 1 ; (adj., v.) ME, prp. of cunnan to know (see can 1 , -ing 2 )
Related forms:
cun⋅ning⋅ly, adverb
cun⋅ning⋅ness, noun
Synonyms:
1. shrewdness, artfulness, wiliness, trickery, finesse, intrigue, slyness, deception. Cunning, artifice, craft imply an inclination toward deceit, slyness, and trickery. Cunning implies a shrewd, often instinctive skill in concealing or disguising the real purposes of one's actions: not intelligence but a low kind of cunning. An artifice is a clever, unscrupulous ruse, used to mislead others: a successful artifice to conceal one's motives. Craft suggests underhand methods and the use of deceptive devices and tricks to attain one's ends: craft and deceitfulness in every act. 2. adroitness. 3. ingenious, skillful. 4. artful, wily, tricky, foxy.
1. shrewdness, artfulness, wiliness, trickery, finesse, intrigue, slyness, deception. Cunning, artifice, craft imply an inclination toward deceit, slyness, and trickery. Cunning implies a shrewd, often instinctive skill in concealing or disguising the real purposes of one's actions: not intelligence but a low kind of cunning. An artifice is a clever, unscrupulous ruse, used to mislead others: a successful artifice to conceal one's motives. Craft suggests underhand methods and the use of deceptive devices and tricks to attain one's ends: craft and deceitfulness in every act. 2. adroitness. 3. ingenious, skillful. 4. artful, wily, tricky, foxy.
can
1 [kan; unstressed kuhn] auxiliary verb and verb, present singular 1st person can, 2nd can or (Archaic) canst, 3rd can, present plural can; past singular 1st person could, 2nd could or (Archaic) couldst, 3rd could, past plural could. For auxiliary verb: imperative, infinitive, and participles lacking. For verb (Obsolete): imperative can; infinitive can; past participle could; present participle cun⋅ning.–auxiliary verb
| 1. | to be able to; have the ability, power, or skill to: She can solve the problem easily, I'm sure. |
| 2. | to know how to: He can play chess, although he's not particularly good at it. |
| 3. | to have the power or means to: A dictator can impose his will on the people. |
| 4. | to have the right or qualifications to: He can change whatever he wishes in the script. |
| 5. | may; have permission to: Can I speak to you for a moment? |
| 6. | to have the possibility: A coin can land on either side. |
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
| 7. | Obsolete. to know. |
Origin:
bef. 900; ME, OE, pres. ind. sing. 1st, 3rd person of cunnan to know, know how; c. G, ON, Goth kann; see ken, know
bef. 900; ME, OE, pres. ind. sing. 1st, 3rd person of cunnan to know, know how; c. G, ON, Goth kann; see ken, know
Usage note:
Can1 and may1 are frequently but not always interchangeable in senses indicating possibility: A power failure can (or may) occur at any time. Despite the insistence by some, that can means only “to be able” and may means “to be permitted,” both are regularly used in seeking or granting permission: Can (or May) I borrow your tape recorder? You can (or may) use it tomorrow. Sentences using can occur chiefly in spoken English. May in this sense occurs more frequently in formal contexts: May I address the court, Your Honor? In negative constructions, can't or cannot is more common than may not: You can't have it today. I need it myself. The contraction mayn't is rare.
Can but and cannot but are formal and now somewhat old-fashioned expressions suggesting that there is no possible alternative to doing something. Can but is equivalent to can only: We can but do our best. Cannot but is the equivalent of cannot help but: We cannot but protest against these injustices. See also cannot, help.
Can1 and may1 are frequently but not always interchangeable in senses indicating possibility: A power failure can (or may) occur at any time. Despite the insistence by some, that can means only “to be able” and may means “to be permitted,” both are regularly used in seeking or granting permission: Can (or May) I borrow your tape recorder? You can (or may) use it tomorrow. Sentences using can occur chiefly in spoken English. May in this sense occurs more frequently in formal contexts: May I address the court, Your Honor? In negative constructions, can't or cannot is more common than may not: You can't have it today. I need it myself. The contraction mayn't is rare.
Can but and cannot but are formal and now somewhat old-fashioned expressions suggesting that there is no possible alternative to doing something. Can but is equivalent to can only: We can but do our best. Cannot but is the equivalent of cannot help but: We cannot but protest against these injustices. See also cannot, help.
can
2 [kan] noun, verb, canned, can⋅ning.–noun
| 1. | a sealed container for food, beverages, etc., as of aluminum, sheet iron coated with tin, or other metal: a can of soup. |
| 2. | a receptacle for garbage, ashes, etc.: a trash can. |
| 3. | a bucket, pail, or other container for holding or carrying liquids: water can. |
| 4. | a drinking cup; tankard. |
| 5. | a metal or plastic container for holding film on cores or reels. |
| 6. | Slang: Usually Vulgar. toilet; bathroom. |
| 7. | Slang. jail: He's been in the can for a week. |
| 8. | Slang: Sometimes Vulgar. buttocks. |
| 9. | Military Slang.
|
–verb (used with object)
—Idioms| 10. | to preserve by sealing in a can, jar, etc. |
| 11. | Slang. to dismiss; fire. |
| 12. | Slang. to throw (something) away. |
| 13. | Slang. to put a stop to: Can that noise! |
| 14. | to record, as on film or tape. |
| 15. | carry the can, British and Canadian Slang. to take the responsibility. |
| 16. | in the can, recorded on film; completed: The movie is in the can and ready for release. |
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME, OE canne, c. G Kanne, ON kanna, all perh. < WGmc; cf. LL canna small vessel
bef. 1000; ME, OE canne, c. G Kanne, ON kanna, all perh. < WGmc; cf. LL canna small vessel
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To cunning
| cun·ning (kŭn'ĭng) adj.
[Middle English, present participle of connen, to know, from Old English cunnan; see gnō- in Indo-European roots.] cun'ning·ly adv., cun'ning·ness n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Cunning
Cun"ning\ (k[u^]n"n[i^]ng), a. [AS. cunnan to know, to be able. See 1st Con, Can.]1. Knowing; skillful; dexterous. "A cunning workman." -- Ex. xxxviii. 23. "Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on. --Shak. Esau was a cunning hunter. --Gen xxv. 27. 2. Wrought with, or exhibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious; curious; as, cunning work. Over them Arachne high did lift Her cunning web. --Spenser. 3. Crafty; sly; artful; designing; deceitful. They are resolved to be cunning; let others run the hazard of being sincere. --South. 4. Pretty or pleasing; as, a cunning little boy. [Colloq. U.S.] --Barlett. Syn: Cunning, Artful, Sly, Wily, Crafty. Usage: These epithets agree in expressing an aptitude for attaining some end by peculiar and secret means. Cunning is usually low; as, a cunning trick. Artful is more ingenious and inventive; as, an artful device. Sly implies a turn for what is double or concealed; as, sly humor; a sly evasion. Crafty denotes a talent for dexterously deceiving; as, a crafty manager. Wily describes a talent for the use of stratagems; as, a wily politician. "Acunning man often shows his dexterity in simply concealing. An artful man goes further, and exerts his ingenuity in misleading. A crafty man mingles cunning with art, and so shapes his actions as to lull suspicions. The young may be cunning, but the experienced only can be crafty. Slyness is a vulgar kind of cunning; the sly man goes cautiously and silently to work. Wiliness is a species of cunning or craft applicable only to cases of attack and defense." --Crabb.Cunning
Cun"ning\, n. [AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi knowledge. See Cunning, a.]1. Knowledge; art; skill; dexterity. [Archaic] Let my right hand forget her cunning. --Ps. cxxxvii. 5. A carpenter's desert Stands more in cunning than in power. --Chapman. 2. The faculty or act of using stratagem to accomplish a purpose; fraudulent skill or dexterity; deceit; craft. Discourage cunning in a child; cunning is the ape of wisdom. --Locke. We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom. --Bacon.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : cunning
Spanish:
astuto,
German:
listig,
Japanese:
ずるい
cunning
c.1325, prp. of cunnen "to know" (see can (v.)). Originally meaning "learned;" the sense of "skillfully deceitful" is probably 14c.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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