SLY (slier, sliest, slyer, slyest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: slier    , sliest    , slyer    , slyest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sly mean? 

• SLY (adjective)
  The adjective SLY has 1 sense:

1. marked by skill in deception

  Familiarity information: SLY used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SLY (adjective)

Comparative: slier   
Superlative: sliest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by skill in deception

Synonyms:

crafty; cunning; dodgy; foxy; guileful; knavish; slick; sly; tricksy; tricky; wily

Context example:

a wily old attorney

Similar:

artful (marked by skill in achieving a desired end especially with cunning or craft)

Derivation:

slyness (shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception)

 Context examples 

The sly devil—God forgive me that I should speak of him so, now that he is dead!

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Here was a sly glance at Emma.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

"You sly creature! Of course we meant the young man," exclaimed Miss Belle, laughing.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I do think, she continued, nothing was ever carried on so sly; for it was but two days before Lucy called and sat a couple of hours with me.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I thought him very sly;—he hardly ever mentioned your name.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

He was a sly, subtle, scheming man, and several things arose which gave me a suspicion of him, but I had no cause for any positive quarrel.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But she was so affectionate and sweet-natured, and had such a pleasant manner of being both sly and shy at once, that she captivated me more than ever.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Professor Krempe often asked me, with a sly smile, how Cornelius Agrippa went on, whilst M. Waldman expressed the most heartfelt exultation in my progress.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

And so, under pretence of softening the previous outrage, of stroking and soothing me into placidity, you stick a sly penknife under my ear!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Sly creature!

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)