knavery

[ ney-vuh-ree ]
See synonyms for knavery on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural knav·er·ies.
  1. action or practice characteristic of a knave.

  2. unprincipled, untrustworthy, or dishonest dealing; trickery.

  1. a knavish act or practice.

Origin of knavery

1
First recorded in 1520–30; knave + -ery

Words Nearby knavery

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use knavery in a sentence

  • I could grudge him, for his knavery and dissimulation, though I do not envy much the having the same place myself.

  • They are,” said he, “of much sincerity and integrity far from the craft and knavery of men among us.

    Archaic England | Harold Bayley
  • I have played the knave so long with you that it is perhaps the greatest knavery I can commit to be honest at last.

    Rest Harrow | Maurice Hewlett
  • That a due rigour and restraint be laid upon the second, that villainy and knavery might not be encouraged by a law.

    An Essay upon Projects | Daniel Defoe
  • The young mail being hid, after some knavery, behind the arras, in come our quidam and that prelate.

    The Saint's Tragedy | Charles Kingsley

British Dictionary definitions for knavery

knavery

/ (ˈneɪvərɪ) /


nounplural -eries
  1. a deceitful or dishonest act

  2. dishonest conduct; trickery

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012