Wily

Definition: Wily

Wily

Adjective

1. 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 "wily" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references)

Note: Wily \Wil"y\, adjective. [Comparative Wilier; superlative Wiliest.]. (references)

Synonyms: Wily

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.

Crosswords: Wily

He's quite wily like his old man. (Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery; writing credit: Mike Myers.)

Maybe you should have used full power Wily, then you wouldn't have missed us (Mega Man; writing credit: Mark Bender; James Samelson)

The Wily Weasel (1937)

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

Books

• An angler reflects : how to catch the wily ones (reference)

• Firewalls and Internet Security: Repelling the Wily Hacker, Second Edition (reference)

• The Wily Witch, and All the Other Fairy Tales and Fables (reference)

• The Wily Witch: And Other Fairy Tales (reference)

• The Wily Wizard and the Wicked Witch, and Other Weird Stories (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Wily Gurus [CD-SINGLE] (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

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

Being wily or tricky

Albanian

finok (astute, cagey, crafty, cunning, politic, sharp, smart), dinak (argute, artful, canny, crafty, cunning, daedalian, devious, furtive, leery, pawky, sleeky, sly). (various references)

Arabic 

‏كائد (crafty, cunning, sly), ‏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, tricky, underhand), ‏ماكر (artful, crafty, cunning, deceitful, deep, designing, disingenuous, feline, foxlike, foxy, furtive, guileful, malicious, pawky, politic, scheming, sharper, slick, slim, sly, smart, subtle, trick, vulpine), ‏مراوغ (deceitful, devious, dodgy, elusive, evasive, shifting, shifty), ‏خادع (bluffy, crafty, deceitful, deceptive, delusive, delusory, dishonest, double dealing, fallacious, false, fool, illusive, illusory, insincere, misleading, rip off, trickish, tricky), ‏خبيث (bad, black-hearted, dark, evil, evil-minded, malevolent, malicious, malignant, pernicious, rake, roue, sly, vicious, viperous, virulent, vulpine, wicked). (various references)

Bulgarian 

хитър (acute, arch, artful, calculating, catty, clever, crafty, cunning, cute, deep, designing, disingenuous, dodgy, foxy, guileful, insidious, knowing, leery, long-headed, parlous, patent, pawky, politic, sharp, shifty, shrewd, sleek, slim, sly, smart, supple, wary, wide, wordly-wise), лукав (astute, crafty, designing, feline, furtive, guileful, parlous, pawky, serpentine, sly, snaky, subtle, tricky, underhand, wicked). (various references)

Czech

vychytralý (artful, astute, designing, devious, shrewd, shrewish, sly), rafinovaný (astute, crafty, cunning, refined, sneaky, sophisticated, subtle), potmìšilý (ill natured, sneaky, spiteful), lstivý (crafty, cunning, deceitful, designing, leery, politic, subtle, tricky, underhand), úskoèný (crafty, deceitful, shifty, shuffling, snaky, tricky, underhand). (various references)

French

rusé, roublard, roué, malin (wise man), maligne, cauteleux, astucieux. (various references)

German

verschlagen (artful, board up, bring, cunningly, devious, foxy, sly, slyly, strand, take away, thrash, tricky, underhand, wallop), schlau (artful, astute, brightly, canny, clever, cleverly, crafty, cunning, cunningly, cute, foxy, leery, neat, neatly, nifty, sharp, shifty, shrewd, shrewdly, slily, sly, slyly, smart, smartly, sneaky, vulpine, vulpinely, wise), gerissen (broken, cagey, crafty, cunning, cunningly, quirkily, sharp, shifty, slippery, sly, slyly, torn, wrenched). (various references)

Greek 

μουσίτσα (crafty, gnat, jade, midge), πανούργοσ (arch, artful, astute, canny, crafty, cunning, designing, parlous, pawky, sharp, shrewd, sly, slyish, subtile, subtle, vulpine), πανούργος (sly), τετραπέρατος (astute, cute, shrewd), δόλιοσ (deceitful, dishonest, fraudulent, guileful, lurking, sly, snaky, trappy, treacherous, two faced, underhand, underhanded). (various references)

Hebrew 

תחבל� י (crafty, inventive, shifty, tricky), שועלי (cunning, foxy, vulpecular, vulpine), ערמומי (arch, artful, calculating, canny, catchy, crafty, cunning, devious, foxy, insidious, pawky, shifty, slicker, sly, underhand). (various references)

Hungarian

ravasz (acute, artful, astute, be cunning, cagey, cagy, calculating, canny, catchy, colubrine, crafted, crafty, cunning, cute, deep, drafty, draughty, elusive, foxy, gimmicky, guileful, insidious, knowing, leery, pawky, shifty, shrewd, slick, slim, sly, to know how many beans make five, trappy, tricksy, tricky, trigger, vulpine), minden hájjal megkent (acute, ikey, slippery), fortélyos (artful, colubrine, crafted, crafty, cunning, dodgy, fly, foxy, guileful, pawky, vulpine), agyafúrt (artful, coony, cute, dodgy, foxy, leery, out and out, pawky, sharp, shrewd, sly, tricksy, tricky). (various references)

Italian

malizioso (arch, catty, cunning, malicious, maliciously, mischievous, puckish, wicked), astuto (arch, artful, astute, cagey, canny, crafty, cunning, leery, shrewd, slick, sly, subtle). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

陰険 (treacherous, tricky), 悪賢い (crafty, cunning, sly). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

い�"け�" (appearance and disappearance, audience, interview, treacherous, tricky), わるがし�"い (crafty, cunning, sly). (various references)

Manx

kioot (acute, astute, canny, clever, crafty, fly, foxy, intelligent, keen-witted, quick-witted, shrewd, smart), kialgagh (calculated, calculating, circumventory, crafty, deceitful, deceiving, deceptive, fallacious, fly, guileful, illusive, insidious, perfidious, seditious, treacherous, tricky), cooishagh (artful, causal, cautelous, chatty, curiosity, inquisitive). (various references)

Pig Latin

ilyway.(various references)

Portuguese

matreiro (jesuitic, jesuitical, shifty), manhoso (cagey, designing, jesuitic, jesuitical, machiavellian, pawky, sharp, shifty, slick, sly, tricksy, tricky, vulpine), ladino (clever, cunning, jesuitic, jesuitical, sly, smart), 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, tricky, vulpine), astucioso (crafty, jesuitic, jesuitical, pawky, tricky). (various references)

Romanian

viclean (arch, artful, astute, cagey, catlike, catty, crafty, cunning, cute, deceitful, downy, foxy, guileful, leery, pawky, quick-witted, shifty, sly, slyly, subtle), şiret (arch, artful, canny, cord, crafty, cunning, fox-like, gimp, guileful, lace, pawkily, pawky, sharp, shifty, sly, slyboots, slyly, string, subtle, tricky). (various references)

Russian 

хитрый (artful, astute, cagey, cattish, catty, crafty, cunning, disingenuous, insidious, leery, pawky, rat-face, serpentine, sleeky, sly, tricky, vulpine), лукавый (conniving, pawky). (various references)

Scottish

seòlta (crafty, ingenious, skilful, wise), carach (tricky, turning, winding). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

lukav (arch, artful, astute, cagey, cagy, canny, captious, crafty, cunning, designing, insidious, leery, perfidious, shrewd, sleeky, sly, tricky, vulpine). (various references)

Spanish

ma oso, desgarrado (clever, smart), bribón (dog, knave, rascal, scoundrel, varmint, villain), 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, tricky, vicious, wide, worldly wise). (various references)

Swedish

listig (artful, clever, crafty, cunning, deep, dodgy, sharp, shifty, sly, tricky, vulpine). (various references)

Turkish

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, tricky, vulpine, weasel, wheeler dealer, wide awake, wise guy), cin fikirli, şeytan (adversary, arch fiend, artful, cloven foot, cloven hoof, crafty, cunning, daemon, demon, devil, fiend, old harry, old nick, prince of darkness, sly, the arch-enemy, the devil, the evil one, the old dragon, the old enemy, the tempter). (various references)

Ukrainian

хитрий (arch, argute, artful, astute, canny, cattish, crafty, cunning, devious, doleful, enterprising, foxy, hard-headed, leery, pawky, shifting, shrewd, sly, tricky, wide), лукавий (ambidextrous, arch, canny, crafty, hollow-hearted, wicked), підступний (astute, cattish, crafty, cunning, dastardly, guileful, insidious, jesuitic, jesuitical, serpentine, skittish, sly, treacherous, vulpine, witty). (various references)

Vietnamese 

xo trá, quỷ quyệt (insidious, machiavellian, shifty, snaky), lắm mưu. (various references)

Welsh

ystrywgar (artful, crafty), diferiog (crafty), dichellgar (artful, crafty, cunning). (various references)

Derivations

Words ending with "wily": dewily, overwily, shadowily, showily, snowily. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Wily" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Awliya, eily, Gwylim, Ily, iwl, waily, wally, wealy, weiy, welly, welpy, wesly, weyl, whiley, wieley, wify, wigy, wiky, wil, wila, wilg, wili, Wilia, wilie, wilig, wilit, Wilky, willi, Willm, Wilm, wiln, wilo, wilp, wilty, wipl, wity, wivy, wixy, wiy, wizy, wli, wliz, wlly, woiy, wolly, wrily, wyl. (additional references)

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

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-2 letters: li.

+1 letter: willy.

+2 letters: dewily, oilway, swirly, twirly, warily, wavily, waxily, whirly, widely, wieldy, wifely, wiggly, wildly, wilily, wirily, wisely, wyling.

+3 letters: bawdily, billowy, dowdily, gawkily, lifeway, mildewy, oilways, pawkily, pillowy, railway, rowdily, showily, slipway, snowily, swiftly, swithly, tawnily, twiddly, twinkly, wackily, waspily, waybill, waylaid, wearily, weedily, weevily, weirdly, whitely, willowy, windily, wispily, wittily, woozily, wordily, wriggly, wrinkly, yawling, yowling.