English Dictionary

WILINESS

Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

 Dictionary entry overview: What does wiliness mean? 

WILINESS (noun)
  The noun WILINESS has 1 sense:

1. shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deceptionplay

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


 Dictionary entry details 


WILINESS (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 ("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 
"Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas." (English proverb)

"The way of the troublemaker is thorny." (Native American proverb, Umpqua)

"Blind bear picks corn, picks one and throws one." (Chinese proverb)

"The death of one person means bread for another." (Dutch proverb)



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