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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Cunning \Cun"ning\ (k[u^]n"n[i^]ng), adjective [AS. cunnan to know, to be able. See 1st {Con}, {Can}.]
1. Knowing; skillful; dexterous. ''A cunning workman.'' -- Ex. xxxviii. 23.
''Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on. --Shak.
Esau was a cunning hunter. --Gen xxv. 27.
2. Wrought with, or exhibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious; curious; as, cunning work.
Over them Arachne high did lift
Her cunning web. --Spenser.
3. Crafty; sly; artful; designing; deceitful.
They are resolved to be cunning; let others run the hazard of being sincere. --South.
4. Pretty or pleasing; as, a cunning little boy. [Colloq. U.S.] --Barlett.
Syn: {Cunning}, {Artful}, {Sly}, {Wily}, {Crafty}.
Usage: These epithets agree in expressing an aptitude for attaining some end by peculiar and secret means. Cunning is usually low; as, a cunning trick. Artful is more ingenious and inventive; as, an artful device. Sly implies a turn for what is double or concealed; as, sly humor; a sly evasion. Crafty denotes a talent for dexterously deceiving; as, a crafty manager. Wily describes a talent for the use of stratagems; as, a wily politician. ''Acunning man often shows his dexterity in simply concealing. An artful man goes further, and exerts his ingenuity in misleading. A crafty man mingles cunning with art, and so shapes his actions as to lull suspicions. The young may be cunning, but the experienced only can be crafty. Slyness is a vulgar kind of cunning; the sly man goes cautiously and silently to work. Wiliness is a species of cunning or craft applicable only to cases of attack and defense.'' --Crabb.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Cunning \Cun"ning\, noun [AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi knowledge. See {Cunning}, adjective]
1. Knowledge; art; skill; dexterity. [Archaic]
Let my right hand forget her cunning. --Ps. cxxxvii. 5.
A carpenter's desert Stands more in cunning than in power. --Chapman.
2. The faculty or act of using stratagem to accomplish a purpose; fraudulent skill or dexterity; deceit; craft.
Discourage cunning in a child; cunning is the ape of wisdom. --Locke.
We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom. --Bacon.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
cunning
adjective
1: attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness; "a cute kid with pigtails"; "a cute little apartment"; "cunning kittens"; "a cunning baby" [syn: {cute}]
2: 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 Dik"; "a wily old attorney" [syn: {crafty}, {dodgy}, {foxy}, {guileful}, {knavish}, {slick}, {sly}, {tricksy}, {tricky}, {wily}]
3: showing inventiveness and skill; "a clever gadget"; "the cunning maneuvers leading to his success"; "an ingenious solution to the problem" [syn: {clever}, {ingenious}]
noun
1: shrewdness in deception; "as cunning as a fox"
2: shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception [syn: {craft}, {craftiness}, {foxiness}, {guile}, {slyness}, {wiliness}]
3: drafty artfulness (especially in deception)
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
254 Moby Thesaurus words for "cunning": Byzantine, Daedalian, Machiavellian, Machiavellianism, Machiavellic, ability, acute, address, adept, adeptness, adroit, adroitness, agility, airmanship, ambidexterity, ambidextrous, animal cunning, apt, arch, art, artful, artfulness, artifice, artisanship, artistic, artistry, astute, authoritative, bad faith, bravura, brilliance, brilliant, cagey, cageyness, calculating, canniness, canny, capability, capacity, chiseling, clean, clever, cleverness, collusive, command, competence, control, coordinated, coordination, covinous, crack, crackerjack, craft, craftiness, craftsmanship, crafty, crooked, cunning, cunningness, cute, daedal, dainty, deceit, deceitful, deceitfulness, deep, deep-laid, deft, deftness, delicate, designing, devious, deviousness, dexterity, dexterous, dexterousness, dextrous, dextrousness, diplomacy, diplomatic, dishonest, dishonesty, dissemblance, dissimulation, double, double-dealing, double-faced, double-minded, double-tongued, doublehearted, doubleness, doubleness of heart, duplicitous, duplicity, efficiency, excellent, expert, expertise, expertness, facility, faithless, faithlessness, false, false-principled, falsehearted, falseheartedness, falseness, fancy, feline, finagling, finesse, foxiness, foxy, fraudulent, furtive, furtiveness, good, goodish, grace, graceful, grip, guile, guileful, guilefulness, handiness, handy, horsemanship, hypocrisy, improbity, indirect, indirection, ingenious, ingeniousness, ingenuity, insidious, insidiousness, inventive, keen, know-how, knowing, low cunning, magisterial, marksmanship, masterful, masterly, mastership, mastery, mignon, neat, no mean, pawkiness, pawky, perfidious, politic, practical ability, professional, proficiency, proficient, prowess, quick, quickness, quite some, readiness, ready, resource, resourceful, resourcefulness, satanic cunning, savoir-faire, savvy, scheming, seamanship, serpentine, sharp, sharpness, shiftiness, shifty, shrewd, shrewdness, skill, skillful, skillfulness, slick, slickness, slim, slippery, sly, slyness, smart, smooth, snaky, sneak attack, sneakiness, sneaky, some, sophistical, statesmanlike, stealthy, strategic, style, stylish, subtile, subtility, subtilty, subtle, subtlety, supple, surreptitious, surreptitiousness, tact, tactful, tactfulness, tactical, technical brilliance, technical mastery, technical skill, technique, the compleat, the complete, timing, treacherous, treacherousness, treachery, trickiness, trickish, tricksy, tricky, two-faced, two-facedness, underhand, underhanded, underhandedness, virtuosity, virtuoso, vulpine, wary, well-considered, well-contrived, well-designed, well-devised, well-done, well-invented, well-laid, well-planned, well-reasoned, well-thought-out, well-weighed, wile, wiliness, wily, wit, wizardry, workmanlike, workmanship
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
CUNNING, noun The faculty that distinguishes a weak animal or person from a strong one. It brings its possessor much mental satisfaction and great material adversity. An Italian proverb says: "The furrier gets the skins of more foxes than asses."
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