Tricky

Definition: Tricky

Tricky

Adjective

1. Not to be trusted; "how extraordinarily slippery a liar the camera is"- James Agee.

2. Having concealed difficulty; "a catchy question"; "a tricky recipe to follow".

3. Marked by skill in deception; "cunning men often pass for wise"; "deep political machinations"; "a foxy scheme"; "a slick evasive answer"; "sly as a fox"; "tricky Dick"; "a wily old attorney".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "tricky" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1550. (references)

Synonyms: Tricky

Cunning

Adjective: cunning, crafty, artful; skillful; subtle, feline, vulpine; cunning as a fox, cunning as a serpent; deep, deep laid; profound; designing, contriving; intriguing;Verb: strategic, diplomatic, politic, Machiavelian, timeserving; artificial; tricky, tricksy; wily, sly, slim, insidious, stealthy; underhand; (hidden); subdolous; deceitful; slippery as an eel, evasive; crooked; arch, pawky, shrewd, acute; sharp, sharp as a tack, sharp as a needle; canny, astute, leery, knowing, up to snuff, too clever by half, not to be caught with chaff.

Deception

Untrue; mock, sham, make-believe, counterfeit, snide, pseudo, spurious, so-called, pretended, feigned, trumped up, bogus, scamped, fraudulent, tricky, factitious;bastard; surreptitious, illegitimate, contraband, adulterated, sophisticated; unsound, rotten at the core; colorable; disguised; meretricious, tinsel, pinchbeck, plated; catchpenny; Brummagem.

Crosswords: Tricky

If it's tangy and brown, you're in cider town. Now, there's two exceptions and it gets kinda tricky here (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge)

Dating's so tricky, that's all. And you're really cool (The Tao of Steve; writing credit: Duncan North; Greer Goodman)

These pens are so tricky (Peggy Sue Got Married; writing credit: Jerry Leichtling; Arlene Sarner)

Don't wanna end up in a tricky situation, (A Little Bit; performing artist: Jessica Simpson)

Tricky Trout (1961)

The Tricky Trickster (1928)

Young Wild West Trapping a Tricky Rustler (1912)

A Tricky Painter's Fate (1908)

Tricky Tricky (performing artist: Lou Bega)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• 303 Tricky Checkmates (reference)

• What Would You Do?: A Kid's Guide to Tricky and Sticky Situations (reference)

• Your Foot's on My Feet : And Other Tricky Nouns (reference)

  (more book examples)

Theater & Movies

• Yello Dyno's Tricky People (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• Mambo No. 5/Tricky Tricky [CD-SINGLE] (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

High Tech

• SSX Tricky (reference)

  (more camera examples; more video game examples; more computer examples; more electronic examples; more software examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Rock, spray, and wind make for a tricky entrance to Depoe Bay. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth.

A bowl of berries is a treat for the eye as well as a delight for the palate. But these tasty little morsels happen to be quite tricky to grow, harvest, and handle. These crops tend to have brief growing seasons and are vulnerable to insects, disease, and even birds, so ARS scientists have given them lots of attention. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer..

Damn tricky, these imperialists!. Credit: Library of Congress.

Tricky business, this oriental diplomacy!. Credit: Library of Congress.

It's an intricate operation - installing a 30-calibre machine gun in a Navy PBY plane, but not too tricky for Jesse Rhodes Waller, Corpus Christi, Texas. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Health

Brain and spinal cord tumors cause many diverse symptoms, which can make detection tricky. (references)

Business

Tie-ups with Japanese beer manufacturers are tricky, however. (references)

Trade

Czech Rep

For higher-value items, financing is tricky, yet crucial. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Expressions using "tricky": shuffle out of a tricky situation ♦ tricky old sharper. Additional references.

Beginning with "tricky": tricky-dicky, tricky-looking.

Albanian

i rëndë (arduous, artless, awkward, bad, bulky, burdensome, cubbish, cumbersome, cumbrous, dead, difficile, elephantine, grave, grievous, grinding, hard, heavy, hefty, incondite, knock about, leaden, lumping, massive, oafish, onerous, peremptory, plodding, ponderous, portly, serious, set up, severe, solemn, stertorous, stodgy, unwieldy, wakeless, weighty), i ngatërruar (embarrassing, embroiled, entangled, haywire, immersed, involved, knotty, labyrinthine, mixed, muddy, tangly, woozy), i ndërlikuar (chequered, complicated, convoluted, daedal, daedalian, elaborate, intricate, involute, labyrinthine, sophisticated, vexing), hileqar (blackleg, cheat, fraudulent), dredharak (cunning, dodger, guileful, shifty, slippery, slyboots). (various references)

Arabic 

‏معقد (busy, complicate, complicated, convoluted, deep, difficult, doctrinarian, entangled, inextricable, intricacy, intricate, invalid, involute, knotted, knotty, nasty, perplexing, snarled, sophisticated, tangled, tangly), ‏مخادع (artful, bluff, bluffer, crafty, deceitful, deceptive, delusive, devious, dishonest, disingenuous, double, double dealing, double-tongued, face, false, fraudulent, hustler, illusive, illusory, indirect, insincere, misguiding, misleading, sly, trickish, underhand, wily), ‏صعب (arduous, complicate, complicated, difficult, formidable, frustrating, hard and fast, harsh, hot stuff, knotty, lean, malaise, mure, nice, outrageous, risque, rough, rum, severe, sticky, stony, tartar, uneasy), ‏خادع (bluffy, crafty, deceitful, deceptive, delusive, delusory, dishonest, double dealing, fallacious, false, fool, illusive, illusory, insincere, misleading, rip off, trickish, wily), ‏شائك (acarpous, barbed, knotty, prickly, spiked, spiky, spiny, sticky, thistly, thorny, touchy), ‏دقيق (accurate, careful, close, delicate, elaborate, exact, express, farina, fine, flour, inappreciable, infinitesimal, intangible, just, keen, mathematical, meal, nearness, nice, painstaking, particular, pernickety, precise, punctilious, punctual, rigorous, scrupulous, searching, sharp, sound, specific, straightforward, strict, ticklish, tiny, touchy, true, veracious). (various references)

Bulgarian 

съобразителен (acute, clearheaded, cute, flexible, peart, resourceful, wide awake), сложен (aggregate, complex, complicated, compound, convoluted, daedalian, elaborate, integrate, intricate, knotty, multiplex, perplexed, perplexing, sinuous, subtle, tangly), труден (arduous, awkward, complex, difficile, difficult, dodgy, formidable, heavy, knotty, laborious, lively, painful, perplexed, perplexing, pick-and-shovel, rocky, sore, spiny, stroppy, taxing, thorny, ticklish, tight, tough, troublesome, uphill, warm), криещ опасности (treacherous), мошенически (dishonest, fast, fraudulent, knavish, phoney, phony, rascally, roguish, scoundrelly), зъл (bad, bad tempered, baleful, blackhearted, evil, ill, ill disposed, ill tempered, ill-conditioned, malign, malignant, mean, scratchy, sinister, snaky, stuffy, sulphurous, swart, venomous, vicious, waspish, wicked), лукав (astute, crafty, designing, feline, furtive, guileful, parlous, pawky, serpentine, sly, snaky, subtle, underhand, wicked, wily), ловък (able, adroit, agile, artful, dodgy, handy, knacky, knowing, light fingered, natty, neat, neat-handed, peart, politic, pretty, shrewd, skilful, skillful, slick, swift-handed, tricksy, wary, whizbang), подвеждащ (loaded, misleading), измамнически (roguish). (various references)

Chinese 

棘手 (thorny). (various references)

Czech

obtížný (difficile, difficult, dodgy, hard, heavy, nagging, onerous, painful, troublesome), nevypoèitatelný (imponderable, incalculable), lstivý (crafty, cunning, deceitful, designing, leery, politic, subtle, underhand, wily), choulostivý (delicate, lackadaisical, squeamish, tender, ticklish, vexed), úskoèný (crafty, deceitful, shifty, shuffling, snaky, underhand, wily). (various references)

Dutch

netelig. (various references)

Farsi 

مهارت امیز, نیرنگ امیز, نیرنگ باز (Trickster), خدعه امیز. (various references)

Finnish

vaikea (difficult, hard, knotty, serious, severe, tough), konstikas (complicated, intricate), kiperä (complicated, knotty, sticky). (various references)

French

scabreux, roué, retors, plein de complication, malin, illusionniste, difficile (troublesome), délicat, épineux. (various references)

German

verzwickt (fiendish, vexing), kompliziert (complex, complicated, complicates, compound, difficult, elaborate, intricate, involved, sophisticated), knifflig (fiddly), heikel (awkward, choosy, delicate, difficult, fussily, fussy, nice, particular, pernickety, queasily, queasy, scabrous, scabrously, thorny, tickling, ticklish). (various references)

Greek 

κατεργάρικοσ (knavish, son of a gun, trickish), πονηρόσ (canny, cunning, foxy, sly), πονηρός (artful, cunning, sly, sneaky), ζόρικοσ (pushing, tough), απατηλόσ (catchy, colorable, deceitful, deceptive, delusive, elusive, elusory, fallacious, fraudulent, hollow, illusive, illusory, specious), δύσκολος (difficult, hard, prickly, tough, trying). (various references)

Hebrew 

מפולפל (acute, fancy, peppery, spicy, subtle, witty), מסובך ומטעה, תחבלני (crafty, inventive, shifty, wily), נכלולי. (various references)

Hungarian

furfangos (arch, astute, foxy, ikey, leery, politic, smart), elmés (ingenious, tricksy), bonyolult (complex, complicated, difficult, elaborate, inextricable, intricate, involute, involved, knotty, mazy, problematic, thorny), agyafúrt (artful, coony, cute, dodgy, foxy, leery, out and out, pawky, sharp, shrewd, sly, tricksy, wily). (various references)

Indonesian

cerdik (artful, astute, canny, cunning, sharp, sharp-eyed, smart). (various references)

Italian

strettoia (bottleneck, narrow), intricato (complicated, intricate, knotty, mazy), ingannevole (crafty, deceitful, deceptive, delusive, dodgy, elusive, false, misleading), furbo (artful, clever, crafty, cunning, foxy, shrewd, sly, smart, smartly), difficile (arduous, awkward, catchy, difficult, difficult to please, fastidious, hard, inconvenient, problem, rough, severe, stiff, strained, stressful, tight, tough, trying, uneasy), delicato (dainty, delicate, fine, gentle, maidenly, refined, sensitive, slight, soft, sore, subtile, subtle, tender, thin, ticklish, touchy), complicato (complex, complicated, elaborate, intricate, involved, perplexed, sophisticated). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

陰険 (treacherous, wily), トリコモナス膣炎 (TNT, trick, trick play, trick work, trickster, tricolore, trinitrotoluen, Trinity, trip, trip meter, Tripper, tripping, vaginal trichomoniasis). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

トリッキー , いんけん (appearance and disappearance, audience, interview, treacherous, wily). (various references)

Korean 

까다로운 (Fastidious). (various references)

Manx

kialgagh (calculated, calculating, circumventory, crafty, deceitful, deceiving, deceptive, fallacious, fly, guileful, illusive, insidious, perfidious, seditious, treacherous, wily), clinkagh, clickagh, cleaysagh (knavish). (various references)

Pig Latin

ickytray.(various references)

Portuguese

trapaceiro (bribetaker, censorious, cheat, corndodger, crook, dodger, duffer, grafter, gyp, hoe-cake, pettifogger, pettifogging, rogue, rook, shammer, shark, sharp, sharper, shuffler, slicker, swindler, trickster), manhoso (cagey, designing, jesuitic, jesuitical, machiavellian, pawky, sharp, shifty, slick, sly, tricksy, vulpine, wily), difícil (arduous, cornered, cramped, difficile, difficult, fussy, go-ahead, hard, inconvenient, kid-glove, knotty, labored, laboured, nice, painful, pernickety, ponderous, puzzling, rugged, thankless, thorny, ticklish, tough, trying, well-made), complicado (abstract, complex, complicated, crab, crabbed, elaborate, intricate, knotted, knotty, many-sided, puzzling), astuto (acute, adroit, arch, artful, astucious, astute, canny, clearheaded, clever, crafty, cunning, designing, guileful, jesuitic, jesuitical, leery, longheaded, machiavellian, perspicacious, sharp, shifty, shrewd, sly, smart, sophisticated, subtil, subtile, subtle, tricksy, vulpine, wily), astucioso (crafty, jesuitic, jesuitical, pawky, wily). (various references)

Romanian

poznaş (arch, elfish, funny, prankish, rogue, roguish, scapegrace, tricksy, wag, waggish, wanton, wit), dibaci (adroit, artful, clever, deft, dexterous, handy, skilful, skilled, skillful, slick, sly, subtle), delicat (captious, dainty, delicate, delicately, fine, fine-spun, finicky, fragile, frail, fussy, gentle, gentlemanlike, gently, mellow, nice, queasy, refined, slender, slim, slippery, soft, subdued, tactful, tender, thin, ticklish, weak), complicat (complicated, daedal, deep, difficult, elaborate, intricate, intricately, obscure, perplex, perplexed, tangled, turbid), şiret (arch, artful, canny, cord, crafty, cunning, fox-like, gimp, guileful, lace, pawkily, pawky, sharp, shifty, sly, slyboots, slyly, string, subtle, wily), îndemânatic (adroit, adroitly, clever, deft, dexterous, dextrous, handy, light-handed, natty, skilful, skillful, slick, subtle, workmanlike). (various references)

Russian 

мудреный. (various references)

Scottish

carach (turning, wily, winding). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

varljiv (fallacious, false, illusive, loaded, meretricious, misleading, specious, treacherous), varalički, prepreden (artful, cagey, cagy, cunning, guileful, politic, sharp, shrewd, slick, sly, smart, subtle, tricksy, vulpine), lukav (arch, artful, astute, cagey, cagy, canny, captious, crafty, cunning, designing, insidious, leery, perfidious, shrewd, sleeky, sly, vulpine, wily). (various references)

Spanish

tramposo (cheat, deceitful, dishonest, fiddler, slicker, trickster), mañoso (slick), intrincado (devious, intricate), espinoso (bony, difficult, knotty, prickly, spiny, stickleback, tender, thistly, thorny, ticklish, tough), engorroso, difícil (arduous, awkward, complicated, complicative, delicate, difficile, difficult, grave, hard, heavy, off putting, painful, picky, problem, tender, touch and go, tough, wild), astuto (artful, astute, cannie, canny, clever, colic, crafty, cunning, deep, devious, dodgy, foxy, guileful, insidious, knowing, leery, malicious, mischievous, nasty, pawky, politic, sharp, shifty, sleeky, slick, sly, smart, vicious, wide, wily, worldly wise), artero (designing). (various references)

Swedish

slug (artful, astute, cagey, canny, clever, crafty, cunning, designing, foxy, knowing, leery, sharp, shifty, shrewd, sly, smart, wily), marig (awkward), listig (artful, clever, crafty, cunning, deep, dodgy, sharp, shifty, sly, vulpine, wily), knepig (catchy, clever, cunning, dodgy, hairy, knotty, sly, smart, ticklish), klurig (artful), kinkig (choosey, difficult, discriminated, fastidious, fussy, Kittle, parlous, particular, pernickety, petulant, spiny, squeamish, testing). (various references)

Turkish

oyuncu (actor, frisky, gambler, hoaxer, performer, play actor, player, playful, prankish, sportive, thespian, trickster, tricksy), nazik (affable, attentive, brittle, civil, civilized, civil-spoken, complaisant, considerate, courteous, dainty, debonair, debonaire, decent, delicate, distingue, Douce, eggshell, exquisite, fair, genteel, gentle, gracious, kid glove, kind, mannerly, mild, obliging, parliamentary, polished, polite, suave, sweet-natured, tender, ticklish, tickly, touchy, trickish, urbane, well disposed), kurnaz (arch, artful, astute, cagey, calculating, canny, cattish, catty, coon, crafty, cunning, cute, designing, dodger, dodgy, downy, feline, Fox, foxy, hard boiled, heady, knowing, leery, politic, quirky, roguish, serpentine, sharp, shifty, shrewd, slick, slim, sly, sly old fox, slyboots, smart, subtile, vulpine, weasel, wheeler dealer, wide awake, wily, wise guy), ince (attenuate, attic, brittle, civilized, courteous, dainty, delicate, fine, fragile, graceful, gracile, gracious, keen, lean, nice, polite, precision, refined, scarious, sharp, slender, slim, subtile, subtle, sylphish, sylphlike, sylphy, tenuous, thin, trickish, tricksy, urbane, vaporous), hileli (dishonest, false, fraudulent, sharp, tortuous, trick, trickish, tricksy, twisty, unfair), düzenbaz (bilker, crafty, cross, deceitful, deceiver, designing, falsifier, gadgety, impostor, intriguer, intriguing, left handed, pettifogging, racketeer, rogue, roguish, serpentine, shammer, shyster, tartar, trickster), aldatıcı (baffling, beguiling, catchy, colorable, colored, coloured, deceptive, delusive, devious, dishonest, double dealing, elusory, fake, fallacious, googly, hype, illusive, illusory, indirect, specious, treacherous, trickish, tricksy), üçkâğıtçı (blackleg, cheat, chiseler, chiseller, confidence man, confidence trickster, grifter, guileful, humbug, knave, knavish, sharper, swindler, trickish, trickster, tricksy, wangler). (various references)

Ukrainian

складний (complex, complicated, composite, compound, decomposite, elaborate, intricate, involute, involved, jointed, mazy, multiplex, operose, profound, tangled, tickle), хитрий (arch, argute, artful, astute, canny, cattish, crafty, cunning, devious, doleful, enterprising, foxy, hard-headed, leery, pawky, shifting, shrewd, sly, wide, wily), мудрований (overwise). (various references)

Vietnamese 

xảo quyệt (artful, crafty, cunning, designing, machiavellian, politic, politically, slim), xỏ lá (loopy, scampish, trickish), mưu mẹo (artifice, ruse, stratagem, trepan, trick, wile), mánh lới phức tạp, lắm thủ đoạn (designing, trickish), láu cá (crafty, cunning, devious, dodgy, foxlike, leery, tricksy). (various references)

Welsh

castiog (full of tricks). (various references)

Misspellings

"Tricky" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: drecky, ricky, Taroczy, thicky, ticky, tirrick, trecky, treky, tricey, Trickey, trickly, tricy, triky, trisk, trisy, Trixi, Trucky. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: trick.

-2 letters: city, icky, rick, tick.

-3 letters: cry, ick, icy, irk, kir, kit, tic, try.

-4 letters: it, ti.

+1 letter: rickety, trickly, tricksy.

+2 letters: trickery, trickily.

+3 letters: yardstick.

+4 letters: eukaryotic, karyotypic, kerygmatic, pernickety, trickishly, yardsticks.

+5 letters: factorylike, persnickety, prokaryotic, tracklaying.