sly

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

adj. cunning, furtive, wily; crafty, deceitful, stealthy, underhand; roguish, mischievous. See concealment. Ant., artless.

II

(Roget's IV) modif.

1. [Crafty]

Syn. wily, tricky, foxy, shifty, insidious, artful, shrewd, designing, deceitful, guileful, scheming, deceiving, captious, intriguing, cunning, unscrupulous, deceptive, conniving, calcuLating, plotting, elusive, delusive, illusory, bluffing, dissembling, dishonest, mealy-mouthed, treacherous, underhanded, sneaking, double-dealing, faithless, traitorous, sharp, smart, ingenious, cagey, canny, dishonorable, crooked*, mean*, dirty*, ratty*, double-crossing*, slick*, smooth*, slippery*, shady*.

Ant. honest*, fair, just.

2. [Shrewd]

Syn. clever, sharp, astute; see intelligent 1 .

3. [Secretive]

Syn. furtive, evasive, stealthy; see secret 3 , secretive .

Syn.- sly implies a working to achieve one's ends by evasiveness, insinuation, furtiveness, duplicity, etc. [ a sly bargain ] ; cunning implies a cleverness or shrewd skillfulness at deception and circumvention [ a cunning plot ] ; crafty implies an artful cunning in contriving stratagems and subtle deceptions [ a crafty diplomat ] ; tricky suggests a shifty, unreliable quality rather than cleverness at deception [tricky subterfuges ] ; foxy suggests slyness and craftiness that have been sharpened by experience [ a foxy old trader ] ; wily implies the deceiving or ensnarement of others by subtle stratagems and ruses [wily blandishments ]

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) a.

wily, foxy, cunning, crafty, tricky, clever, *cagey, artful, shrewd, sneaky, *weaselly, underhanded, furtive, secretive, stealthy.

ANT.: artless, simple, naive

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) adjective 1. Deceitfully clever: artful, crafty, cunning, foxy, guileful, scheming, sharp, tricky, wily. Stability, honest, means. 2. Trickily secret: furtive, secretive, sneaking, sneaky, surreptitious. See HONEST.