ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Wily

Definition, Meaning & Examples

Pronunciation /ˈwaɪ.li/ · Part of speech adjective

Quick meaning: Wily is an adjective meaning Sly, cunning, full of tricks.

Meaning

Sly, cunning, full of tricks.

Example Sentences

Horatio's new girlfriend is a wily coquette, and poor Horatio is too smitten to see it.
Of all the medical monsters Peter Hotez could have set out to slay, the Yale University researcher could not have chosen a more wily and obscure villain than the hookworm.

Word Forms

Synonyms for wily

Depending on context, synonyms include astute, artful, cautelous, crafty, cunning, devious.

Antonyms for wily

Common opposites include guileless, gullible, honest, ingenuous, naive, unwise.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include sly, cunning, tricksy, artful, guileful, knavish.

Related Dictionary Tools

Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.