I. adjective
1.
Synonyms: clever 4, adroit, canny, ||coony, dexterous, ingenious, ||sleighty, slim, sly
Related Word: well-devised, well-laid, well-planned; crackerjack, masterful
Idioms: too clever by half
2.
Synonyms: sly 2, artful, astute, crafty, deep, foxy, guileful, insidious, tricky, wily
Related Word: acute, keen, sharp; knowing, smart; wary
Idioms: not to be caught with chaff
Contrasted words: artless, naive, unsophisticated
II. noun
1.
Synonyms: art 1, adroitness, craft, dexterity, expertise, know-how, skill
Related Word: deftness, dexterousness; adeptness, expertness; cleverness, ingeniousness, ingenuity
2.
skill in devising or using indirect or subtle methods
a woman able to maneuver people with great cunning
Synonyms: art, artfulness, artifice, cageyness, canniness, craft, craftiness, foxiness, slyness, wiliness
Related Word: savvy, sharpness, shrewdness; cleverness, ingeniousness, ingenuity; agility, facility, finesse, slickness; subtlety; insidiousness, shiftiness, trickiness
3.
Synonyms: deceit 1, dissemblance, dissimulation, duplicity, guile
Idioms: satanic cunning, the cunning of the serpent