English Dictionary |
WILINESS
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
Dictionary entry overview: What does wiliness mean?
• WILINESS (noun)
The noun WILINESS has 1 sense:
1. shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
Familiarity information: WILINESS used as a noun is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
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 ("wiliness" is a kind of...):
astuteness; perspicaciousness; perspicacity; shrewdness (intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings))
Derivation:
wily (marked by skill in deception)
Context examples
I will watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with its venom.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Faithfulness and devotion, things born of fire and roof, were his; yet he retained his wildness and wiliness.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
Learn English with... Proverbs |
"The way of the troublemaker is thorny." (Native American proverb, Umpqua)
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"The death of one person means bread for another." (Dutch proverb)