SLYNESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does slyness mean? 

• SLYNESS (noun)
  The noun SLYNESS has 1 sense:

1. shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception

  Familiarity information: SLYNESS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SLYNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

craft; craftiness; cunning; foxiness; guile; slyness; wiliness

Hypernyms ("slyness" is a kind of...):

astuteness; perspicaciousness; perspicacity; shrewdness (intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings))

Derivation:

sly (marked by skill in deception)

 Context examples 

“Yes,” said Mr. John Knightley presently, with some slyness, “he seems to have a great deal of good-will towards you.”

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

But at my last words he perked up into a kind of startled slyness.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Merely looking at me with extravagant slyness, and not waiting for any reply, she continued, without drawing breath: There! If ever any scapegrace was trimmed and touched up to perfection, you are, Steerforth.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But here she did injustice to the fire and independence of his character, for it led him to escape out of Longbourn House the next morning with admirable slyness, and hasten to Lucas Lodge to throw himself at her feet.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

But slyness seems the fashion.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)